Chapter 15 - The Kiss We Almost Avoided
“I don't know how to do this,” Raymond said.
“Do what?”
“This.”
He gestured between us.
For once, the millionaire who could negotiate acquisitions worth hundreds of millions looked completely helpless.
I sat beside him.
“You could start by using words.”
“I love you.”
I stared at him.
“That was efficient.”
He laughed nervously.
“I've had months to rehearse.”
My heart pounded.
“Raymond…”
“I don't expect anything.”
“That isn't why I'm hesitating.”
“Then why?”
“Because I met you when you couldn't move. I became responsible for you. Then everything happened so fast.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“I need to know this isn't gratitude.”
Raymond was silent.
Then he said, “That's fair.”
He didn't kiss me.
That made me love him more.
For three months, we changed nothing.
I attended classes.
Raymond returned gradually to work.
Claire built her relationship with him.
Theodore learned to say “Ray.”
Raymond claimed it was his first word.
It wasn't.
But I allowed him the lie.
Then one rainy evening, my car broke down.
Raymond arrived personally.
“You have employees for this.”
“Yes.”
“Drivers.”
“Yes.”
“Assistants.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you standing in the rain?”
He looked at me as though the answer were obvious.
“Because you called.”
That was the moment.
Not the mansion.
Not the money.
Not the dramatic rescue.
That ordinary sentence.
Because you called.
May you like
I kissed him.
And for once, there was no secret hiding behind what happened next.
