Page 120 of Downpour

But not me without you.

A tear splashed onto the page. I quickly folded it to keep his words from washing away. I turned in his arms. “Ray…”

He pulled me against his chest and cradled the back of my head. “I know it’s not much?—”

“It’s everything,” I whispered into his neck. “Because it’s you.”

“You told me that good and bad exist in tandem. That sunshine and sorrow are two sides of the same coin. And I believe it. I don’t care if the clouds ever go away, because you’re the silver lining inside them.”

My lip quivered, and I bit down on it. But the trembling never stopped.

“I love you, Brooke,” he said as he cupped my jaw and guided me to his lips.

The kiss was warm and laced with the salt of tears. But so was life.

“I love you too.”

“You wanna know something?”

“Hm?”

“The day we met, I remember getting out of Christian’s truck and seeing you for the first time. It was the middle of the day, and the sun was high. It looked like you were glowing.” He dragged his thumb across my cheek to wipe the tears away. “And that was the first day I remember feeling how warm the sun was. How good it felt. You eclipsed my darkness that day. And you’ve done it every day since.”

I tucked into his chest as the exhaustion from the last twenty-four hours washed over me.

“One more thing,” he said.

I opened my eyes and watched as he reached into the cupholder on his chair and pulled out a plant with a small red bloom.

“What’s that?”

Ray chuckled and set the small pot in my lap. “Your plant. The one that only blooms when you meet the love of your life.”

I blinked. “But… I dropped it. And it was mostly dead anyway.”

“But it wasn’t all dead. I found a cutting on the pavement and—for some reason—took it inside and put it in a glass with some water in my room.” He skimmed his fingers up and down my arm. “And each day the roots got a little longer. I found a pot and put it in some dirt and kept watering it.”

I fingered the soft red petals.

Ray’s cheek pressed against my temple. “And the day we got back from our night away, it bloomed.” His lips found mine again. “I don’t believe plants lie. They just seek the sun and keep growing. And so will I.”

“I have to find another job,” I whispered against his lips.

Ray grinned. “So do I.”

That surprised me. I knew Ray was well-off, but he had always shrugged off any thoughts of what was next.

“What are you thinking?”

His nose bumped against mine. “Life’s a bull. Sometimes you can hang on. Sometimes it throws you off. Sometimes you get completely fucked. You gotta get up, dust yourself off, and keep riding.”

29

RAY

“She looks good up there, doesn’t she?” I said, watching from the edge of the outdoor riding arena.

Brooke had tacked up Indy for the inaugural ride in the new arena. CJ’s boys had finished the fencing two days prior, and a truckload of sand had been brought in first thing this morning. Brooke had insisted we come down to watch it get graded out.

---