Page 73 of Chasing Storm
“I’ll be back soon.”
Josh and Thatcher get up as well, stretching and yawning, and follow me into the kitchen. A sense of calm and peace, a feeling of knowing that things are finally going to be okay settles over me.
“Stay with her. Don’t leave her alone to forget about us and change her mind.”
Josh looks alarmed. “Do you think she might? Change her mind?”
“She hasn’t made up her mind yet. I haven’t heard the words. Until then, we do whatever we can to make her life easier and happier so she can’t live without us.”
I set off to the coffee shop down the street. The day is beautiful, the sun warming me, and birds are singing in the trees.
Luckily for both Franco and me, he isn’t working today. It might’ve ruined my bliss seeing his face this morning. Although I would’ve also felt the need to brag about where I’d come from, even though the scent of cherries is all around me.
I place my order, choosing a variety of baked goods to go with the coffee, tapping my fingers on the counter as I wait.
When the order is ready, I do a balancing act to carry the four coffees and baked goods back to the flat, enjoying this sense of domesticity. It will be better when we have her at home where we can wait on her hand and foot, be at her beck and call and worship her the way she deserves.
Using my elbow to press the buzzer, my heart stops for a moment as no one answers, but then the door opens, and I’m let up to Storm greeting me at the front door to her flat.
“You’re a god!” she exclaims, grabbing the bag and pulling a coffee out of the cardboard holder.
“All black,” I call as she makes her way to the kitchen.
“That’ll do,” she says with a smile.
Josh and Thatcher descend on me with gusto, grabbing their coffees, and I kick the door closed, shutting out the world.
I gather my courage by taking a sip of hot, bitter coffee and approach with caution.
Storm glances up from eating her muffin. “What’s up?” she asks suspiciously.
“Do you have any questions?” I venture.
She gives me a puzzled frown. “About what?”
“The trust,” I mutter.
Josh and Thatcher groan, knowing I’ve just waved the red flag, but I need to hear what she has to say about it now that she knows I’m giving it up.
“Oh.” She looks down, and my heart sinks.
The silence is deafening for a moment, but then she sighs.
“I don’t expect you to give up your inheritance for me. That’s selfish, and that’s not who I am. But it does still raise the question of why you didn’t tell me before we had sex the first time.”
“I know.” I place the coffee on the kitchen counter. “I had two things to tell you that night. About the job and this. You sort of sidetracked me with your hot naked body.” I smirk so she knows I’m not gaslighting her.
She giggles. “Okay, I take full responsibility for that, butyoushould’ve made time to tell me, especially before your dick dad did.”
I press my lips together. She has his card. “I know. After we had sex, I knew I was in love with you, crazy as that sounds. I’ve never been in love before, but with you, I knew. I knew I couldn’t live without you, that I didn’t want to. I was afraid that you would think exactly what you did, but it was cowardly not to tell you straight away. Can you forgive me?”
She casts her glance at Josh and Thatcher, who are staring at me, utterly dumbfounded.
She drags her gaze to mine. “I can tell by these two, who look like they’ve been hit with a dead fish, that you’ve never said anything like that before. It makes me want to believe you.”
“Want doesn’t mean you do.”
“I do,” she says. “I know what I felt last night. I know you felt it too. All of you. This is fate. We are meant to be together. However, I choose to believe that you wouldn’t be here if this were just about money. All the effort, all the chasing when every other woman in the area would drop their knickers for you, and probably have, in an instant.”
