AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I would have liked to have met her.”
“She would have liked you, too, Griffith.”
He turned, caught her hand in his and brought it to his lips. He savored the flutter of her eyelashes as she looked down, the deepening of her blush.
“I’m working on believing that.”
The smile she gave him nearly broke his heart. Sweet, kind, supportive. Fear kicked in, blazed bright for a moment.
And then he crushed it. Fear didn’t have a place in this moment.
He kept his grip on her hand, led her to the bench and sat down. Their thighs brushed. His fingers tightened around hers as need built inside him. Not just a need for her body, but for her and everything that made up the incredible woman he’d fallen in love with.
“I listened to what the director of the program had to say. Why it was important. I agreed to a tour of the clinic.”
Tears glimmered in her eyes. “Oh, Griffith.”
“It was hard, Rosalind.” He faced her, squared his shoulders as he surrendered control and shared his deepest fears. “It was even harder meeting the people who had made mistakes just like the man responsible for my father’s death. To not redirect the anger I’d harbored toward myself onto them. But,” he said quietly, “the clinic is trying to help them. So is the art school. And as someone reminded me, I could use some of my money to help make the world a better place.”
“Griffith...” She reached up, laid her hand on his face as a tear slid down her cheek, followed by another as she dipped her head. “I can’t... Saying I’m proud of you doesn’t seem enough.”
“It’s enough. More than enough.” He took her champagne glass from her and set them both down before grabbing her hands in his. “I love you.”
Her eyes rounded as her lips parted.
“What?”
“I love you, Rosalind Sutton.” He cupped her face, ran his thumb over the line of her cheek as he watched her. “I started to fall in love with you the moment I heard you bossing Lazlo around in his office.”
She huffed. “I was not—”
He silenced her with a kiss. For one heart-stopping moment, she froze.
And then she bloomed in his arms, throwing her arms around his neck with abandon as she kissed him back. He groaned her name, thrilled to the sound of her answering moan. He pulled her onto his lap. Pressed her closer. Slid one hand into her glorious curls.
She pulled back, her arms still looped around his neck, her smile so bright and luminous it rivaled the sunset behind her.
“I love you, too.”
His throat tightened. He leaned forward, rested his cheek against hers and breathed in her scent.
“I almost let you go. Almost let us go.”
Her fingers moved across his back in soothing circles.
“What made you come back?”
“I accepted my past for what it was and borrowed a page from your book by looking at how I could turn some of those traits into something good for the future.” She started to say something, but he lay a gentle finger on her lips. “I’m afraid I’m going to fail myself. I’m not used to trying. To putting myself out there. Most of all,” he admitted with a harsh exhale, “I worry that I’ll fail you. That the man you think I can be won’t stand the test of time.”
“Oh, Griffith.” She rested her forehead against his. “You’ll make mistakes. I will, too. I made my own. I quit Nettleton & Thompson because you helped me realize that I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. You showed me how to live. How to take joy from the simple things. How to make myself a priority instead of only living for others.”
His arms tightened around her. “You deserve a life you love, Rosalind. Although I do appreciate your optimistic outlook.” He leaned down, brushed a kiss across her temple. “You saw the potential in me when I couldn’t.”
“I do like looking at the sunny side of things and thinking hard work can solve anything.” She let out a slow breath. “But it can’t always be that way. You ground me.”
“Just as long as I don’t stop you from dreaming.”
“No.” Her smile took his breath away. “You encouraged me to take my own risk. To go after what I truly wanted and what I’m good at. For all my talk about looking at the sunny things in life, I wasn’t letting myself live.”
