Chapter 31
AUSTIN
I’d completely forgotten this was supposed to be anything other than exactly what it was.
Melody in my arms and laughing at something I had said felt right. She was looking at me like I was someone worth her time and affection. Maybe one day, I would even be worth her trust.
There were no contracts here. No arrangements. There was just us. And I would never get tired of how beautiful she looked when she smiled at me.
I had thought she was gorgeous from the first moment I saw her at Sophie’s wedding, but tonight she was radiant.
The gold dress caught every light, making her seem to glow.
Her hair had started the evening in careful waves but was now slightly mussed from dancing, a few strands escaping to frame her face.
Her makeup was smudged at the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard at one of Kent’s stories.
She looked perfect.
“Come on,” I said, taking her hand as the band transitioned to something slower. “I want to show you something.”
“Show me what?”
“Trust me.”
I led her off the dance floor, past my family—who were all watching us with varying expressions of amusement and approval. I knew what Kent thought I was doing, but I wasn’t. I had no intention of dragging her upstairs for a little fun. But damn, that was a good idea.
I led her out of the ballroom. She followed without hesitation. “Austin, where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” I led her through the hotel’s marble corridors.
She kept looking around like she was trying to decide whether we were supposed to be roaming about. “This place is insane,” she whispered as we passed a sitting room with furniture that looked like it belonged in Versailles.
“Wait until you see where we’re going.” I took her down a quieter hallway, away from the gala noise, until we reached a set of French doors. I pushed them open, and Melody gasped.
The hotel gardens spread out before us like paradise.
Thousands of tiny white lights were strung through the trees, creating a canopy of stars.
They reflected off strategically placed mirrors and glass sculptures, multiplying the effect until it felt like we’d stepped into another dimension entirely.
It was hard to believe we were in the city but had just stepped into a magical land.
“Oh my god,” Melody breathed, stepping forward slowly like she was afraid the scene would disappear if she moved too fast.
Stone pathways wound through carefully manicured hedges and flower beds. Water features dotted the landscape, small fountains that trickled and burbled. It sounded like one of those noise machines you might hear in a spa.
But the centerpiece was the pool. It was lit by underwater lights that shifted through shades of blue and turquoise and aquamarine. Steam rose from the heated surface into the cool night air. Next to it, a hot tub bubbled invitingly, also lit from below with that same ethereal blue glow.
A couple sat at the pool’s edge, their feet dangling in the water, wine glasses in hand. They looked up as we entered but quickly went back to their conversation, giving us privacy. Another man floated on his back in the pool, completely relaxed, staring up at the fairy lights above.
“This is incredible.” Melody glanced around, still taking it all in. “I didn’t even know this was here.”
“Most people don’t. It’s for hotel guests only. Not part of the gala.” I led her toward a bench near the hot tub, positioned perfectly to take in the whole scene.
“You’ve been here?”
“Been to several galas, parties, and weddings here,” I said. “I found this one time when everything got to be too much.”
She sat beside me, her dress pooling around her like liquid gold. “To escape?”
“To breathe.” I kept her hand in mine, running my thumb over her knuckles. “It’s easy to forget you’re in the middle of Manhattan out here. With the lights and the water and the quiet.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is.” But I wasn’t looking at the gardens anymore. I was looking at her and the soft smile on her lips.
“It would be so nice to just slip into the water. Forget about everything for a while.”
“Let’s do it.”
She laughed. “Oh yes, let’s hop in fully clothed because I’m not wearing a swimsuit under this and I’m not about to go naked.”
“Come on.”
She sighed wistfully. “This dress definitely doesn’t go well with water or chlorine.”
An idea struck me. A terrible, impulsive, absolutely perfect idea. “So I’ll buy you a new one.”
She turned to look at me. “What?”
“I’ll buy you a new dress. Problem solved.” I started pulling off my bow tie. “Come on. Let’s do it.”
“Austin, you can’t be serious.”
“Why not? When is the last time you did something completely ridiculous just because it sounded fun?”
She frowned and appeared to be running through her memory banks. “I don’t know. I’m usually pretty responsible.”
“Exactly. So be irresponsible. Just this once. With me.” I kicked off my shoes. “Unless you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Then prove it.”
“That’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“And yet here you are, considering it.”
One of the hotel guests, a guy probably in his thirties with a beer in hand, called over from the hot tub. “Do it! You know you want to!”
His friend laughed. “Come on. Live a little. Your man wants to jump in.”
I looked at Melody, raising an eyebrow. “See? We have peer pressure now. It would be rude to disappoint them.”
She was fighting a smile. “This is insane.”
“The best things usually are.”
For a moment, I thought she’d say no. Thought the responsible, practical part of her would win out. And that would’ve been fine. I wasn’t going to push her into anything she didn’t want to do.
If it was just me, I would have been in the pool already.
My reckless ways were part of the reason I was currently on the verge of being disowned.
It was nothing new to me to do shit like jumping into a pool fully clothed.
But I was hoping she would do it. I wanted her to know that freedom.
It was addicting, which was why I did half the shit I did.
I loved saying fuck it. I loved going against the grain and shaking shit up.
I had a feeling if she would give it a try, she might understand me just a little better.
“It’s fine,” I said. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
But then she kicked off her heels. “This is going to ruin my hair,” she said.
“I’ll personally book you the best salon in Manhattan.”
“And if your family sees us.”
“Then they’ll finally have concrete proof I’ve lost my mind.” I squeezed her hand. “Ready?”
“This is crazy.”
“Is that a yes?”
She looked at the pool, then at me, then back at the pool. Then she laughed and raised her other arm in the air. “Yes. Let’s do it.”
We ran the last few steps and jumped. The water was warmer than I expected, closing over our heads in a rush of bubbles and chaos. When I surfaced, Melody was already there, laughing so hard she could barely stay afloat.
“Oh my god,” she gasped. “We actually did that.”
“We did.” I swam closer to her. “Regrets?”
“So many. And absolutely none.” She splashed water at me. “I can’t believe you convinced me to jump into a pool in a designer gown.”
“I can be very persuasive.”
“Apparently.”
The hotel guests were cheering from the hot tub. I gave them a thumbs-up with my goofiest grin, which made Melody laugh harder.
When I acted out, it was usually because of too much alcohol and generally involved nightclubs and women whose names I’d forget by morning. It was destructive and empty and left me feeling like total shit.
But this? This felt good. Really good. Like being a kid again, before everything got complicated. Before life meant you could never do anything just for the pure joy of it.
“Your makeup is running,” I pointed out, swimming lazy circles around her.
“Your hair looks like a drowned rat,” she countered.
“A very handsome drowned rat.”
“If you say so.”
We stayed in the pool for maybe ten minutes, splashing each other like children and racing from one end to the other.
We were being generally absurd. Melody’s dress billowed around her in the water, and when she stood in the shallow end, the wet silk clung to every curve in a way that made my mouth go dry.
“We should probably get out,” she said, but she was still smiling. “Before security comes.”
“Good point.”
We climbed out, water streaming off us, creating puddles on the deck. The hotel guests applauded, and one of them tossed us towels.
“Best entertainment we’ve had all night,” the guy with the beer called.
“Happy to oblige,” I said, wrapping a towel around Melody’s shoulders.
She was shivering now, her teeth chattering slightly. “That was just a little—I don’t even know what I would call that.”
“Stupid?”
“Fun.” She looked up at me, water droplets clinging to her eyelashes. “That was really fun, Austin.”
“Good. You deserve fun.”
“So do you.”
We made our way back into the hotel, wrapped in towels and dripping. I navigated us down a hall, hoping to avoid running into anyone from the gala before we could make our great escape. Of course, that’s when we ran straight into Cash.
My brother stood in the hallway like an impeccably dressed roadblock, his expression cycling from confusion to horror to rage in approximately three seconds.
“What the hell?” He looked us up and down. “Did you just—did you jump in the pool? In formal wear? At a charity gala?”
“Technically, the pool is outside the gala venue,” I pointed out.
“Austin, what the fuck?”
“Language, Cash. There are families here.”
“Don’t.” He pressed his fingers to his temples like he had a headache. “You can’t just—people saw you leave with Melody. They’re going to wonder where you went. And when you show up looking like you went swimming, they’re going to know you are right back to your antics.”
“They’ll think we went swimming. Because we did.” I moved to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that we warned you about.”
“The kind of thing what, Cash?” I yanked my arm free. “The kind of thing that makes you look bad? That embarrasses the precious Bancroft name? That proves I’m still the family screwup?”
“Yes.”
I was getting angry now, the good mood from the pool starting to evaporate. “I’m done, Cash. Done trying to be what you want. What Dad wants. What everyone expects.”
“Austin—”
“I don’t give a damn about my trust fund. Go spend it on some acquisitions in Dubai. Buy another company. Add another zero to the family fortune. I don’t care.” I clipped his shoulder as I walked past. “Come on, Melody.”
She followed without saying a word.
Behind us, Cash said something, but I ignored him. I was done with his judgment. I would always be a disappointment in his eyes. I was sick of his constant need to manage and control everything I did.
I led Melody to the front desk, water still dripping from our clothes.
The clerk’s eyes went wide. “Mr. Bancroft.”
“I need a room. Your best suite. Right now.” I pulled out my wallet, which was soaked but the black card inside was still functional. We needed somewhere private to dry off. And may as well do it in style.
The clerk’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “Yes, sir. We have the penthouse suite available. It’s five thousand for the night.”
“Perfect. We’ll take it.”
“Austin,” Melody whispered. “That’s a little much.”
“I know. I don’t care.” I looked at her. “Unless you want to go home? We can grab a cab.”
“No.” She squeezed my hand. “No, I want to stay. With you.”
The clerk handed over two key cards. “Penthouse floor. Elevator at the end of the hall. Is there anything else you need, Mr. Bancroft?”
“Privacy. That’s all.”
We made it to the elevator without running into anyone else, though I could feel eyes on us from the staff and the few guests milling around the lobby. Let them look. Let them gossip. I didn’t care what anyone thought.
The elevator doors closed, and we were alone. Melody looked at me, then down at herself—soaking wet in a ruined dress—then back at me. And she started laughing. “We just jumped in a pool at a charity gala.”
“We did.”
“In designer clothes.”
“Yep.”
“Your brother looked like he was going to have an aneurysm.”
“Honestly, it was kind of worth it just for that.”
She laughed harder, leaning against me. I wrapped my arms around her despite the fact that we were both soaked and probably getting water all over the elevator.
“This is the craziest night of my life,” she said.
“Good crazy or bad crazy?”
“The best crazy.” She looked up at me. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Like what? Jumping in pools?”
“Like being spontaneous.”
“Stick with me, sweetheart, spontaneous is my middle name.”
She laughed again and I forgot all about Cash and his anger.
I had someone much more pleasant to focus on.