Page 71 of Dare to Fall

Garth pulled away from my swollen lips and looked into my eyes. A softness flickered over the hard planes of his face. The image of him looking down at me with such longing in his eyes gripped my heart in a vise. A swell of emotions flooded through me as he gingerly swept his lips over my forehead, the tip of my nose, each apple of my cheeks, and finally my parted lips.

He was so tender and sweet that hot tears sprung to the back of my eyes, threatening to reveal every truth that laid in my heart.

But I shoved it down, unwilling to give in to what I knew could destroy me if things went awry. I wasn’t ready for it. The endless fall that left me clawing for something to hold on to.

I could feel it, the fragments of my heart being stitched together. But fear grasped at my soul with vise-like claws at the thought of losing what I had just gained. It played out like a tug-o-war in my mind. The desire to simply let myself fall versus clinging to the edge with all the strength I had left.

Garth rocked his hips back, withdrawing himself. The absence of him was staggering, and in that moment, I knew I was done for. He gathered me up in his arms and pulled me into his lap, cradling me against his chest. It didn’t matter if I wanted to protect my heart from further damage. It was no longer mine to withhold.

It belonged tohimnow.

And so I let myself fall for the man who cherished every piece of my broken soul. The one who watched me with wondrous eyes as I tried to unravel the threads of the facade I had worn for so long. Like a steady boulder, buried within the sands of a raging river, Garth stood strong for me when I needed him most.

I knew it wouldn’t make sense to anyone else looking in at what we’d just become. But it didn’t matter because I was tired of letting other people dictate my life. It was a gust of wind that had whisked me off my feet, the way I felt for him. And I wished I could drift along the current of his affection for eternity.

Eventually, the sun would rise, and another day would come. A day when I would have to face all the dark sides of the outside world that raged around us. But this time, I knew I would not be alone.

Garth nuzzled his nose into my hair and took a deep breath. I settled my cheek against his chest, the steady sound of his heartbeat calming my fiery nerves.

“I’m so glad I found you, Eva,” he whispered into my ear.

He reached a finger under my chin and lifted my face to meet his gaze. Through my blissful haze of pleasure, my eyes flickered across his face, studying every inch so I might never forget what heaven looked like. The sharp set of his shadowed jaw that held the sweetest lips I’d ever kissed. The slight curve of his cheekbones that laid just beneath the most enticing eyes that swirled with the change of the tide, hooded under dark thick lashes and brows. The warm golden tone of his skin that revealed his love of the sunshine.

I wanted to remember it all.

And as I drifted off to sleep in his arms once again, I dreamt of his body, endlessly wrapped around me in a cocoon of felicity, never to be broken.

36

Garth

The edgeof the bed dipped with my weight as I sat down, a hot cup of espresso between my hands, while I gazed at the beautiful angel lying in my bed. Long wisps of her auburn hair fanned out in all directions, portraying a halo around her serene face.

She was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.

My heart swelled, overwhelmed by emotions I’d never felt before. It was like taking a dip in the frigid ocean waves during a long, hot summer. Exhilarating. A rush of adrenaline swarmed through my veins. My stomach fluttered at the realization that I had finally found it, the feeling I’d been searching for my entire life, unknowing of just how much it would impact me.

There were no words meaningful enough to express what she did to me, not a single picture I could paint that would portray my feelings for her.

I didn’t know how long she would be mine, but I hoped I could somehow manage to keep her in my arms forever.

I tried not to let the fear of losing her settle too deep in my core. I wanted this moment to last forever.

I shifted my gaze toward the large bay window, a looking glass into the depths of the night and all the turmoil that swarmed below.Hewas out there. The one she had loved, who betrayed her in the worst way imaginable. It made me sick to my stomach thinking of her in pain, knowing that the safe haven we had created in my loft was bound to fall away as more details of the scandal were released.

My mind wondered, considering all the ways I could try to help her. The unrelenting need to protect her was growing by the second, festering in my core.

For my entire life, I had shied away from the fortune my parents had amassed, afraid that if I gave in to the destruction of money and power, I would end up as another lost soul to greed and wealth. And so, I had turned to art, the only thing that made sense to me, that made me feel whole.

But as I looked at Eva, lying peacefully in my bed, another fear took hold, greater than the fear of losing myself to the ever-alluring family fortune.

It was the fear that I would be forced to watch Eva wither away under the pressures this scandal would likely cause. That Connor’s powerful family would somehow manage to dig their claws into her once more and find a way to destroy what little bit of herself she had finally built up.

So, I would do what I could to prevent that from happening, even if it meant I had to swallow my pride and use the power of my own family to keep her protected.

I took another look at her before walking over to the kitchen to grab my phone from the counter. Letting out a breath, I dialed my mother’s number. It rang twice before she picked up.

“Garth, honey. Is everything alright? It’s almost midnight.” There was no sleepiness to her tone as I knew there wouldn’t be. For as long as I could remember, my parents hardly slept. I was sure it was their superpower and how they were able to build their successes from the ground up. If you only slept four hours per night, there was plenty of time to get shit done.

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