He turns, and his eyes drop down my body, noting my towel for the first time. He clears his throat before looking away. “Right, yes. I’ll wait here.”
He strolls toward the living area window, pushing his hands into his pant pockets. I study his back. The way his broad shoulders fill out his dark gray suit. The way his suit pants fit him, hinting at the defined thighs beneath them… and a firm, muscular ass.
I hurry to my bedroom, pulling on my underwear and selecting a silk blouse and smart jeans to wear. I run my fingers through my hair, hoping it looks more ‘cute waves’ than tangled mess, slip on a pair of ballet pumps, and grab a black blazer. I don’t have time for makeup, only a swipe of lip balm before I walk into the living area.
Sterling looks up as I enter, his gaze subtly dropping down my body and back up in a way that makes my thighs clench. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you.”
He tilts an object in his hand toward me. “Jenny?”
I walk over and look at the photograph he’s holding. Jenny and I have our arms around one another. And there’s a huge cake on the table in front of us. It’s the last picture we took together before she got ill.
“Her eighteenth birthday.” I smile sadly.
“Ah,” Sterling murmurs softly, studying the image. “She has such a beautiful smile. And I take it she liked Taylor Swift?” He chuckles at the ‘I’m Taylor’s biggest fan’ T-shirt Jenny’s wearing.
“She really did. Knew every single word of every single song.” I smile as I stand next to him, close enough that my arm brushes his jacket sleeve.
“As a biggest fan should,” he muses, smile lines crinkling around his eyes as he admires the picture.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
“What for?”
“Most people see the Down syndrome first. They don’t see Jenny.”
He holds my eyes for a moment, his brows creasing, before looking back at the image.
“Well, she deserves to be seen. Why don’t you bring her with us?”
“What?” I frown as he holds the frame out to me.
“Give her a different view today.”
I take the photo from him and look at it, my throat tightening. Instead of putting it back, I walk to my purse on the kitchen counter and slide it inside. “I’m ready when you are.” I look back to find him watching me.
“Then shall we?” His soft smile has me looking away with a quick nod to hide the heat blooming in my cheeks.
“Liberty enlightening the world,” I murmur with a bittersweet smile as I stand looking out at New York’s harbor lit up by the sunrise.
A new day. New possibilities.
“Indeed,” Sterling rumbles as he comes to stand by my side.
“Thank you for bringing me here.” Emotion bubbles in my throat as I slip Jenny’s photo out of my purse and hold it in front of me, facing out, so she can see. “The view is stunning. She would have loved it.”
After we left my apartment, he showed me to his car, where his driver was waiting. He drove us to a private boat that brought us to Liberty Island, where we climbed up inside Lady Liberty.
Right inside her crown.
No one else is here. It’s just me, Sterling, Jenny’s photo, and a thousand memories. All witnessing the way the sky is turning every shade of orange over the glistening water.
“How did you even arrange this? I only told you yesterday how much she wanted to come here. I tried getting a ticket before I left England, but they were booked up for months.”
I turn to look at him as he watches the sunrise, and he tips his head casually. “I made some calls, that’s all.”
A smile twists my lips. Some calls. It’s easy to forget he’s a billionaire with a wealth of connections at his fingertips. To me, he’s a man with a hidden pain that I recognize in his eyes.
