20. Sebastian #2
The minutes stretched like taffy. I checked my watch. Checked it again. Shifted my weight from foot to foot, the cardboard sign growing damp where my palms gripped it.
What if she refused to come out? What if Xavier couldn't convince her? What if she saw me through the window and called the police?
Movement near the foundation's entrance.
I turned and saw Xavier, walking backwards, hands raised in a placating gesture, talking rapidly. And behind him, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else on earth, was Aria.
She was wearing a simple blouse and dark pants, her hair pulled back in that practical style she favored. Her expression was guarded, suspicious, and when her eyes landed on me, I watched them go wide.
Xavier shot me an exasperated look over his shoulder.
"Go on," he hissed. "Do the thing."
Right. The thing. The sign. The words I was supposed to say.
I lifted the cardboard with hands that wouldn't stop shaking and began to read.
"Aria." My voice cracked on her name. I cleared my throat, tried again. "I've spent my whole life building walls. You're the first person who ever made me want to... want to tear them down."
She had stopped walking. Stood frozen on the sidewalk, ten feet away, her face unreadable in the candlelight.
"I was afraid of what I felt for you. Afraid of what it meant to need someone that much. So I fell back on the only thing I knew." The words blurred in front of me. I blinked hard. "Control. Strategy. The cold calculus of business."
A car drove past. The candles flickered.
"I was wrong. I was so wrong." My voice broke properly now, and I didn't try to hide it. "You deserve someone who fights for you. Someone who chooses you, every day, without games or manipulation or fear."
I lowered the sign. Let it fall to the ground.
"I want to be that person." I was speaking from somewhere deep now, somewhere raw, somewhere I'd never let anyone see. "If you'll let me."
Aria hadn't moved. Hadn't spoken.
I took a breath. Found the rest of the words hiding in my chest.
"I've never felt this way before. I've never been so terrified of losing someone." A sound escaped me, somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "Which is absurd, because you've driven me half-mad from the moment we met. You're stubborn and sharp and you never let me get away with anything."
Her lips twitched. Just barely.
"And yet." I stepped closer. "And yet, I love you. I love you, Aria. I love your fire and your compassion and the way you care about things so deeply it scares you. I love how you are with Evie. I love how you fight for people who can't fight for themselves."
I was standing in front of her now. Close enough to touch. Close enough to see the tears gathering in her eyes.
"I love you," I said again, because I couldn't stop saying it, because I never wanted to stop. "And I will spend the rest of my life proving I'm worthy of you, if you'll give me the chance."
I reached into my jacket and pulled out the envelope.
Her eyes dropped to it, then back to my face. "What is that?"
"Open it."
She took it with trembling fingers. Flipped it open. I watched her expression change as she registered what she was looking at.
"The deed," she breathed. "Sebastian, this is..."
"Yours." I stepped closer still. "The Kahale Grande should be yours. It means everything to you. You're the right person for it. You always were."
"But Mr. Kahale accepted your offer. How..."
"The old man was toying with me." I shook my head, remembering my last conversation with him, the knowing look in his ancient eyes. "He never had any intention of accepting my offer. He wanted to see what I would do. What I was made of."
Aria stared at the deed. At me. At the candles spelling out their plea on the sidewalk.
"So." I forced the words past the knot in my throat. "What do you say? Am I forgiven?"
She was quiet for a long moment. Long enough for my heart to climb into my throat and take up permanent residence there.
Then she tilted her head, pretending to consider.
"Hmm. Let me think about it."
Before I could respond, her arms were around my neck and her mouth was on mine.
The kiss was everything. Soft and fierce and desperate all at once. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer, closer, until there was no space left between us. She tasted like coffee and something sweet, and I never wanted to taste anything else for the rest of my life.
A whistle cut through the air.
We broke apart, breathing hard, to find Xavier watching us with a satisfied grin.
"My work here is done." He was already backing away, hands in his pockets, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Don't forget what you owe me, brother."
Then he turned and strolled off down the sidewalk, disappearing around the corner.
Aria looked at me, eyebrows raised. "What was that about?"
"You don't want to know."
"Probably not." She glanced around at the lights, the candles, the flowers. "Did you do all this yourself?"
I kissed her again, softer this time. "Yes."
She laughed against my lips, the sound vibrating through me like music. "No, you didn't."
"No," I admitted, smiling despite myself. "I didn't."
I kissed her again. And again. I couldn't seem to stop. Every time I pulled back, I found myself leaning in once more, drawn to her like gravity, like breathing, like something I couldn't control and didn't want to.
"Oh, and Sebastian?" she murmured against my mouth.
"Yeah?"
She pulled back just far enough to meet my eyes. The candlelight caught the tears still clinging to her lashes, turning them to gold.
"I love you, too."
The words landed somewhere deep in my chest and took root there, permanent and unshakeable.
I pulled her close and held on tight, surrounded by string lights and candle flames and the scent of plumeria, and let myself believe that this was real.
That she was real.
That we were going to be okay.