“Emma.”
“Is it okay? The stylist said emerald would?—“
“You're stunning.” He crosses to me slowly, eyes never leaving my face. “Absolutely stunning.”
“You clean up okay yourself.”
“I need you to know something,” he says quietly. “Before we go out there. Before the cameras and the crowds and all of it.”
“What?”
He takes my hands. Lifts them to his lips. Kisses each knuckle, one by one, eyes never leaving mine.
“In this life, I want only two things.” His voice drops low, rough with emotion. “I want you. And I want us.”
The words settle into my chest like a key turning in a lock.
“Kai...” My voice breaks on his name.
He waits. I can see the vulnerability he's trying to hide. The boy who was never chosen. The man who built walls so high he forgot there was someone inside them worth protecting.
He needs to hear it. He needs me to say it.
I want that too.” I reach up, touch his face. “I want you. I want us. I want all of it.”
He unravels. Breath shudders out. He pulls me close, forehead pressed to mine.
“Yeah?” A whisper.
“Yeah.”
He kisses me then. Soft and fierce and full of everything we haven't said yet. When he pulls back, his eyes are bright.
“You're going to ruin my makeup,” I manage.
“Worth it.” He pulls out his phone. “Can we take a photo? I want to remember how you look right now. How I feel right now.”
We stand together in the hallway, his arm around my waist, my head tilted toward his shoulder. The phone captures us in soft light. Emerald and black. He holds it up and we smile. Not the polished smiles of people performing for cameras. The messy, unguarded smiles of people who mean it.
He shows me the screen. We look happy. We look like we belong together.
“Send that to me.”
“Already done.”
I save it immediately. Set it as my lock screen before I can overthink it.
“Ready?” he asks.
I breathe deeply. “Ready.”
He offers his arm. I take it.
We step into the elevator together, descend toward the glittering world below, his hand warm over mine.
The calm before the storm.
CHAPTER 37
