I crushed my bodyagainst his, relishing the warmth and safety of his arms. As far as hugs went,this one was anA-plus, perfect inevery way. He held me tightly against him without asking me for details. Hesimply held me, giving me the sanctuary and healing I needed so badly.
And I gratefullyclung to him, soaking up every second of this man that had come to mean so muchto me over the last few months.
“Do you want totalk about it?” he asked, his voice low and soft, but edgy too—prepared tofight. For me, I hoped. I didn’t have it in me to fight with him tonight.
My arms tightenedaround him. “I was at work…” I sniffled, feeling pathetic all over again. “Myboss… We were working on a project and he came onto me.”
Ezra’s entire bodystiffened, tightened, and readied for battle. “He did what?”
“But not in a niceway,” I hiccupped. I pulled back, drying my eyes with the back of my hand andgetting a grip on my wild emotions. I bravely met Ezra’s hard glare andconfessed what happened. “He’s been harassing me for a while. Always sayinginappropriate things or accidentally touching me. But he’s the CEO’s son. WhenI complained to HR, they accused me of making something out of nothing. Theymade it seem like I was a drama queen. And before maybe it wasn’t anything… Iwasn’t afraid of Henry at that point, he was more obnoxious than dangerous. He irritatedme and disgusted me, but he didn’t scare me. Then this afternoon, he called meinto his office to discuss the client we’re working together on, and that’swhen he took things too far.”
I told Ezraeverything, the horrible things he’d said to me, how he felt entitled to mebecause of the project, how he threatened to fire me. Ezra listenedattentively, his body coiling with his reaction the longer my story went on.His jaw ticked with every mention of Henry, and he never once let go of me. Notonce.
“I don’t know whatto do,” I told him. “I don’t know how to go back into that office and deal withthose people… with Henry.”
“You’re not goingto do it alone,” he growled. “I’ll go with you in the morning.”
“You don’t haveto—”
“Enough, Molly. Youare not an inconvenience to me. This is not something I’m going to make you doalone. I am going with you because I’m going to let those assholes in youroffice have it, and it’s going to be my privilege to stand up for you.” Hereached for his phone. “I’m going to call my lawyer, Brent. He should go withus.” His gaze snapped back to mine. “You will be suing, won’t you? Brent is thebest in the city. He’ll know exactly what to do.”
“I-I haven’tthought that far ahead. I’m just really still trying to get through today.”
His expressionsoftened and he tossed his phone back on his desk, forgetting about it. “I’msorry,” he murmured sincerely. “My default is action. Especially when I feelhelpless. We’ll get through today and you can think about what you want to do.”
I tilted my head athim, staring up at this gorgeous man that cared so deeply for me. It stillseemed crazy. “Why do you feel helpless?” He wasn’t the one that had beenattacked. He wasn’t the vulnerable female fleeing her own job.
He gently pressedthe back of his hand against my cheek, rubbing a slow, sweet path. “Do youreally not know? Molly, I want to murder the asshole that touched you… talkedto you that way. I want to kill him for making you feel this way, for expectingyou to give him whatever his depraved mind came up with. He’s a scumbag and hetried totouchyou. How can I feelanything but helpless? This asshole deserves my fist in his fucking face, andI’m going to have to settle for destroying him legally. It’s killing me.”
I shivered. Nobodyhad ever stuck up for me like this. Nobody had ever needed to. I had spenttwenty-seven years of my life blending in.
But I wasn’tinvisible with Ezra.He saw me. And Iwas enough for him.
I couldn’t speak orreply or even think straight. Words sat on the tip of my tongue that I didn’tthink I was ready to say yet. I felt them. I felt them all the way to my bones.Ezra had been this life-changing event that had shaken up everything I’dconvinced myself that I knew about the world, dating, and men.
He didn’t come intomy life gradually or delicately. He swept in like a wildfire, consuming everysingle thought and word and thing until there was only him and me and it waslike we were always supposed to be this way.
“Thank you,” I toldhim. Those simple words containing so much raw emotion that I could barely evenwhisper them.
He brushed histhumb over my bottom lip as he stared at my face, looking for the words Icouldn’t or wouldn’t say. “I’m taking you back to my place,” he said gruffly.“Yeah?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I just need tograb some things.”
“Okay.”
Before he let go ofme, he bent down and kissed my forehead. His lips were warm and soft, and soperfectly gentle that tears flooded my eyes again. “It’s going to be okay,Molly. You’re going to be okay.”
He let go of me forjust a minute to gather his computer and phone, and I was left reeling withwonder that I believed him. I had no idea what I was going to do tomorrow orthe next day, or if I even still had a job. Or if I wanted that job. But I hadEzra and this new sense of inner strength that I couldn’t seem to scare away.
I was still shy. Iwas still meek in some instances. But I had this deep sense of worth too. Mylife plans could change, maybe I really would have to resort to buskingportraits to pay the rent, but I was still me. I still had all the things thatmade me Molly.
And I had Ezra too.Despite how I felt about us before, about past relationships in general, oranything else, I realized I wasn’t goingto lose this man easily. He wasn’t going anywhere, and I wasn’t in any hurry tomake him leave.
“Ride with me?” heasked as we walked out the back door of Bianca, not really waiting for ananswer. His Alfa Romeo glistened in the twilight, looking pretty in the goldenlight. A spring breeze danced over my skin, and the air smelled like buddingflowers and freshly cut glass.
I had just had toface one of the ugliest moments of my adult life. Yet, holding Ezra’s hand inthe employee parking lot of Bianca made today feel oddly like one of the mostprofoundly beautiful days of that same life. It was a strange dichotomy that Ihad trouble reconciling. I had to admit it had everything to do with this mannext to me.
