Page 108 of You Rock My World
I turn my head to the front door. “What is that?”
Lily smirks. “Why don’t you go check.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What did you do?”
My sister shrugs, still smiling. “I only texted him, saying you’d be here tonight and?—”
I don’t wait to hear the end—I’m already running.
49
JOSIE
I shove the front door open so hard, it bounces off the wall, but I don’t stop. I don’t have my shoes on and my socks skid against the terracotta tiles of the gallery patio. I catch myself just short of slamming into the balcony railing.
I grip the metal barrier, eyes sweeping the courtyard below. Dorian is standing by the pool as if he walked straight out of an album cover—black leather jacket unzipped over a fitted tee, dark jeans clinging in all the right places. He has an electric guitar strapped across his chest. An adjustable mic pole in front of him. And a portable amplifier at his feet with wires snaking over the Mediterranean stamped concrete like veins feeding into the night.
Dorian looks unreal, a vision conjured from pure longing. But he’s not a fantasy. He’s here, his gaze locked on mine as if nothing else exists. Not the Christmas lights that wrap around the railings and wind through the low bushes in the flowerbeds, blinking lazily in reds, greens, and golds. Or the neon reindeer that flickers in someone’s window, casting a pale-blue reflection on the pool’s still surface. Not even Lily and Penny appearing beside me.
He isn’t playing a song, but strumming absent chords, his fingers moving hypnotically over the strings.
When he sees me, he clamps the strings, killing the sound. Dorian smiles. “Hi, Josie.”
Two simple words that ripple through the courtyard, amplified by the mic and inescapable as they land right in my chest.
Around us, doors creak open. Neighbors step onto balconies, lean against railings, peek out from ground-floor apartments, phones at the ready. A small crowd is gathering in from everywhere, murmuring in hushed excitement.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I yell, half-laughing, half-stunned.
Dorian’s mouth tilts at the corner. “In case it wasn’t clear, I’m about to serenade you.”
A jolt of heat sparks through my veins, exhilarating. I clamp my hands over my mouth, biting back the grin that wants to split my face.
A few scattered cheers ripple through the complex as he adjusts the guitar strap, shifting his stance. “But before I do, I need to apologize.”
I drop my hands from my mouth and clutch them to my chest.
“For shutting you out.” His apology voice is too close to his seduction voice, and it’s doing unspeakable things to me. “For letting my anger get the better of me. And for making that stupid cover song without thinking. I was selfish and impulsive, and I hate it could’ve ruined everything.”
A lump rises in my throat.
His fingers grip the guitar’s neck harder. “Once, you asked me if I was going to write a song for you.” His gaze is unguarded, searching. “The truth is, all the songs I’ve written lately are for you.”
The crowd collectively sighs. Someone claps. My knees buckle under me, and Lily wraps an arm behind my back as if to make sure I keep upright.
Dorian tilts his head. “But I have a new one. If you want to hear it?”
Lily elbows me. “Say yes, idiot.”
The entire courtyard shouts it for me, but I can only nod, too choked up to speak.
Dorian smirks, tapping the pedal at his feet to start a bass loop. He grips the guitar, fingers poised, eyes locked on mine. And then he sings.
“Guess I got lucky when all went dark,
A city gone quiet, two strangers, two hearts.
We played our cards, and you stripped me bare,
