Chapter Seven
At this point in my life, I’ve taken a lot of risks.
Some have panned out, others haven’t. But this trip? It has more than panned
out—it’s everything.
Coming to Tempe put us in our own little bubble. There are
no distractions, except for the few hours a day when Christian is at physical therapy.
Once he’s done, we literally have the entire day to ourselves. We’ve packed so
much into the five days we’ve had, and he’s made every moment so incredibly
magical. I had no idea relationships could be like this.
We did a bit of sightseeing; he took me shopping and bought
me a couple of outfits and shoes, and we even found a Hello Kitty purse I
didn’t have.
“You know, you’re sort of a good luck charm for my little
obsession,” I tease.
Laughing softly, he looks at me. “Um, I’m not quite sure
what that means, but it sounds like a good thing.”
“You are two for two in the Hello Kitty department. The one
from our first date and now this, so…” Leaning in, I kiss his cheek. “Thank
you.”
“You are very
welcome, Ella Rose. I enjoy spoiling you.” He gently runs his fingers down my
arm in the softest caress before taking my hand in his. His smile is both
adorable and sexy.
It’s such a sweet thing to say, and clearly, he’s very good
at it, but a part of me wishes there was something I could do for him. Which is
what I tell him as we enjoy a fabulous dinner later that night.
“Okay, so I know that we’re not keeping score and all that,”
I begin casually, “but you’ve been so incredibly generous, and I wish there
were something I could do for you.”
He holds my hand, caressing it with his strong fingers, and
the look on his face is beyond tender.
Seriously, he could be the hero in a romance novel.
“But you’ve already given me something more valuable than
anything I’ve given you,” he says in that low timbre that I’m seriously getting
addicted to.
“I haven’t given you anything,” I say lightly, feeling
myself blush.
“Ella Rose, you dropped everything and flew to Arizona just
to be with me. Do you have any idea what that means to me?”
All I do is shake my head. I’m mesmerized as I listen to
him.
“Material things are all fine and well, but you’re here with
me, giving me the gift of your time. There are probably a dozen other things
you could be doing right now. I know how important your career is to you, and
every day is a new opportunity for you to be out auditioning or looking for a
new role. But you hit pause on that because you wanted to be here with me.”
The emotion in his tone is raw, and even if he didn’t expand
on that thought any further, I know exactly how much my being here means.
Turning his hand in mine, I gently caress it. “I hated the
thought of us missing out on the time together almost as much as it bothered me
to think of you being here by yourself.”
His lopsided grin is positively charming.
“I wouldn’t have been by myself. There are trainers and—”
“And when you were done with your sessions, you’d be alone
at the hotel,” I finish for him. “Eating by yourself, not having anyone to talk
to…” I shrug. “Plus, having all this time for just the two of us with no
distractions is kind of amazing. Back home, we would see each other, but not
for these all-day kinds of dates. We may have only known each other for a
little over a week, but it doesn’t feel that way.”
He nods. “I know. I think I’ve told you more about myself
than I’ve ever told anyone. The only people who know more about me are my
family.”
Christian’s family is very close.
A part of me is super excited to meet them, but the other
part is terrified because I’m a little worried they’ll see me as an outsider
who isn’t welcome. Although Christian is such an incredible person, I like to
think the rest of the family will be as warm and friendly as he is.
“Then I guess I should say thank you for wanting to share so
much with me,” I say softly. “And believe it or not, it’s the same for me. I
have a lot of friends, and so much of my life is an open book, but I think I’ve
shared more about me—the real me—with you than anyone else.”
That seems to please him, because that tender look is back.
I swear I could look at him like this forever. His kind eyes, his smile, his
hand in mine…
It’s magical.
Tonight’s my last night with him before I head back to LA,
and I don’t want it to end. We’re eating at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant
again because it’s so good. There are twinkly lights outside by the bar, the
part that’s actually outside, and once we’re done eating, we head out there for
dessert and to enjoy the view.
Not that I wasn’t loving the view inside, but this is
equally spectacular.
The night feels suspended, like the city itself has paused
just long enough for us. Tempe stretches out below, a shimmer of lights and
movement, but up here on the rooftop, everything is still. The music is soft
and bluesy—the exact tone for my mood.
We sit at a small bistro table with a candlelit centerpiece,
and I let out a happy sigh. It doesn’t seem possible for the night, our
surroundings, and pretty much everything to be so perfect, but it is. Our
server takes our dessert order, and as soon as he’s gone, Christian stands,
holding out his hand to me.
“Would you care to dance?”
Is this moment even real? My heart melts. Placing
my hand in his, I nod and get to my feet. “I would love to.”
I fit perfectly in Christian’s arms. It isn’t new anymore,
the way he draws me in, but it still makes my heart flutter. His hand rests on
my lower back, his thumb tracing idle circles that send warmth curling through
me. My hand lies flat against his chest, and I feel the quiet rhythm of his
heartbeat beneath the cotton of his shirt. I am the exact height for him to
cocoon me in his embrace. I could stay here all night long.
“Remember when you said you couldn’t dance?” I softly tease,
reminding him of the night of the movie premiere.
His smile curves, slow and sure. “I do, and I still can’t,”
he says. “You make me look better than I am.”
The quiet laugh is out before I can stop it, the sound
muffled as he leans down and presses a kiss to my temple. It isn’t rushed. None
of it is. Over the last several days, we’ve learned how to move together—not
just in rhythm, but also in silence. In understanding.
The twinkly lights overhead cast everything in gold: the
curve of his jaw, the shimmer in his hair, the faint glow caught on everything
around us. I feel his breath against my cheek, his words barely a whisper.
“I’m going to miss this,” he says. “Miss you.”
My throat tightens. “You’re not allowed to say things like
that when I’m already trying not to melt.”
He chuckles, low and warm, and I can feel it rumble through
him. “Then I’ll stop talking.” He pulls me closer.
And we sway. No more words, no more teasing. Only the slow
press of his hand low on my back, and the sound of the music blending with the
city noise far below. The world feels wider from up here, yet somehow smaller,
too, like it’s narrowed to the space between us. We’re in our own little world,
and I want to stay here.
But I know I can’t.
When I finally look up, I find his gaze waiting—steady,
familiar, and full of something that both scares and soothes me.
Under the canopy of lights, with Tempe glittering below us,
I realize that this, this quiet, effortless closeness, is what falling in love
feels like.
We dance, we have dessert, and yet I keep my feelings to
myself. It may feel like we’ve known each other forever, but I have to remind
myself that it’s still early in our relationship. The last thing I want to do
is scare him off.
I steal a glance at him as we walk to the elevator, and I
know in my heart that nothing I say will change what we have. I can’t exactly
explain why I’m so sure of that, but I am. Christian Lucas is my person, and
that’s all there is to it.
But I still opt to keep it to myself for now, my confidence
wavering like a seesaw.
We’re quiet as we ride the elevator down to our floor.
Holding hands in the comfortable silence works. I rest my head on his shoulder,
and when the doors open, he releases my hand and rests his on my lower back
again.
I love it when he does that.
Every night that we’ve been here, we kiss goodnight at my
door. He never asks to come in, and he’s such a gentleman that I can’t believe
he’s real—or that some other woman hasn’t scooped him up already.
Though that works in my favor, so…
We reach my door and pause. This is basically it. My flight
and his physical therapy session are early in the morning. I knew this moment
was coming, the goodbye, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for it. Or want it.
“I had a wonderful time tonight,” I say dreamily.
“Everything was amazing. Just like this entire trip. You really made everything
special.”
I can tell that he’s not entirely comfortable with the
compliment. His ears turn a little red, and he looks down briefly before
meeting my gaze again. “You’re special, Ella Rose. I want to make sure you know
that. It was important to me that you were comfortable being here with me.” He
pauses, taking both my hands in his. “I’m not used to anyone doing things like
this for me. Other than my family.”
“I wanted to be here. I just needed to let myself
acknowledge that and give myself permission.” Then I giggle because the
conversation with my mother immediately comes to mind. “Well, that and knowing
my mother approved.”
He smiles because I already shared that story with him.
“I don’t want to say goodbye. I feel like we did that barely
a week ago. But I know we have to.”
“I’ll be back in Anaheim in three weeks, tops.”
“Really? I thought you weren’t sure?”
“I didn’t want to say anything and get your hopes up, but earlier
today, I confirmed it with the trainers. I planned on telling you at dinner,
but we were talking about so many other things that it didn’t cross my mind.”
He gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “And that’s only because I didn’t want to
think about this moment.”
I nod because I know exactly what he means.
“I know we just spent the entire day together, well, several