22. Jade

CHAPTER 22

JADE

T here's something about the sight of Grayson in a suit that makes me think I should turn around and run out of the room before I make a fool of myself.

I take a deep breath, sliding along the back wall and trying to stay hidden. The last thing I want to do is have people notice me arriving late. It would look worse than not coming at all, especially since it looks like I'm walking into the middle of Grayson's speech.

Lara sidles up to me, looking stunning in a pale gold dress that hugs her body to perfection. "I wasn't sure if you were going to be here tonight."

"I almost wasn't." I smooth down the wrinkles in the bodice of my dress, trying to breathe even though my chest feels impossibly tight.

She loops her arm through mine, squeezing tight. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't show. I've been giving him hell over the last week. He really does seem upset by what he did."

I shrug. "I'm happy that he's getting everything he wants, but I think there are things more important than finally pleasing your father enough for him to stop holding the family company over your head."

"Well, you're right about that."

Grayson clears his throat, the microphone whining a little, feedback screeching through the room.

I wince, ears ringing as he chuckles, his face turning red.

"I'm not good at speeches," Grayson says, his voice warm and friendly as he looks around. "And I'm going to share something about me that most of you probably already know, but it's that I'm even worse at relationships."

Leo smirks and takes a step back, his eyes glued to his son.

My heart leaps into my throat as I watch him, and just when I'm about to look away, his gaze locks on mine.

I don't know what to do. It feels like I'm frozen to the spot, but at the same time, I want to run away.

This is too much. I don't know what I was thinking when I came here tonight. I could have just stayed home and worked on planning my trip. I could have gone over to my mom's house and cried on her shoulder some more.

Maybe I should have. Maybe she would have talked some sense into me. She might have told me that chasing after Grayson again is too much. That I should stop thinking that he's ever going to come around and see that I'm here for him, regardless of the title he holds.

Grayson gives a nervous chuckle as he looks around the room. "I didn't think that I would be standing here right now, to tell you the truth. In the last week, I've done a fine job of blowing up everything good in my life."

Lara leans into me, her lips close to my ear. "I think he's talking about you."

My cheeks are on fire. "There's no way. He wouldn't ruin the moment by putting his flaws out there for everyone to see. This is everything he's been waiting for."

"I think you're everything he's been waiting for," she says with a smug smile.

I roll my eyes, my heart racing like a runaway train.

Grayson has worked for this his entire life. He wouldn't sacrifice the glory just to prove something to me.

At least, I don't think he would.

The microphone squeaks again, but it's less violent this time.

Grayson shakes his head. "See? Even when I'm trying to make things right, things keep going wrong."

People around the room chuckle and shake their heads, smiles tugging at the corners of their mouths.

"Over the last three months, I got to work with the most incredible woman I've ever met. Jade Harper is a nightmare of a woman. She never takes no for an answer, and I don't think I've seen anything that's capable of standing in her way. She keeps pushing harder and harder. That's what she did with me."

Tears blur the edges of my vision as I lean closer to Lara. "I don't think I can be here for this."

"Just wait." She holds me tighter.

What she doesn't know is that I don't think I could take a step even if I wanted to.

Something about the way Grayson watches me keeps me pinned in place. It's like he and I are the only two people in the room, even though I'm fully aware of everyone watching the spectacle.

He gives me a crooked smile that makes me feel like my heart is going to pop right out of my chest. "The truth is, I fell in love with her. But because I'm the biggest idiot in the world, I let my pride get in the way, and I ruined my chance with her."

Lara squeals, tugging on my arm.

My hand flies to my mouth. "Did you know about this?"

"No, I didn't. Call it a feeling." She smiles and bumps her hip against mine. "He takes some time to come around, but eventually he figures out what's important to him."

"I didn't think he was going to do this." I bite the inside of my cheek, trying not to make eye contact with all the people turning to look at me.

Grayson chuckles. "And now she won't look at me."

A bright light swings my way, focusing on me.

If I could die right then and there, I would.

Lara laughs and gives me a gentle push forward. "Stop trying to hide."

Grayson's smile falls. "Jade, I'm sorry. I screwed up, and I said some things that I would do anything to take back. I was on my way to come find you when they called me up here."

I take a step back, disappearing from the light and into the shadows.

This is too much right now.

Grayson is making an effort, and it's melting the steel wall I built around myself before I came here tonight.

I turn and run out of the room, craving fresh air.

The walls of the hotel blur past me as I head to the front door, shoving the heavy glass open and stepping into the night air as rain drizzles down.

"Wait!" Grayson's voice booms through the hotel as the door swings shut behind me.

I hurry down the steps and over to a garden box, pacing as he runs down the stairs after me.

"What the hell was that back there?" I ask when he catches up to me. "I know you just didn't tell an entire room of people that you love me. Not after everything that happened."

"I did, actually."

"Grayson, this is insanity." My shoulders slump as I look up at him, hair dampening from the rain. "You can't just stand at the front of the room and tell people that you love me and then think that everything is going to be okay."

"Not what I was doing." He steps in front of me as I turn to pace back the other way. "I owe you the biggest apology of a lifetime."

I pause, feet stopping on the sidewalk. "You do."

"I'm sorry." He clears his throat, his voice slightly choked, his eyes glassy. Wet strands of his hair plaster against his forehead. "I'm sorry that even after you told me you didn't want to take anything from me, I didn't trust you."

My breathing comes in short bursts, my chest tightening to the point of feeling painful. Everything else around me falls away as I look up at him.

Grayson takes a deep breath. "And I'm sorry that I let something like being a CEO get between us. I thought that I should spend time chasing after my dad's approval when I've always had yours. Even in college, your messing with me pushed me to get more creative. I thought in different ways about everything, but I was too stupid to see how important you were to me back then, too."

"And now that you have everything you want, you can see that?" I ask, bitterness in my voice as I cross my arms, though it feels more like trying to hold myself together. "You think that this is going to make everything okay now?"

"I think that I love you. I'm an idiot, and I hurt you, and I understand if you never want anything to do with me. After the way I acted, I wouldn't want anything to do with me either."

His words come out in a rush, his voice wavering.

Grayson steps closer to me. "I would give up everything to be with you. The life I want doesn't mean anything if I don't have the person I love to share it with."

"And what if this isn't enough for you?" I bite the inside of my cheek, taking a moment to gather my thoughts.

A chill runs through me as the rain soaks through my dress. He slides off his jacket, draping it over my shoulders. I nestle into it, the scent of his cologne easing some of the butterflies in my stomach.

Grayson tucks his hands into his pockets, shoulder slumping in. "Jade, if there's one thing I know, it's that you've always been enough for me. More than enough. I don't deserve to have you in my life, and I never have."

"I wouldn't go that far. I wasn't a prize when we were younger either." My smile is slight, but it tugs at the corner of my mouth as I look at him.

Though I know I should be angry, I can't be. I've spent the last week going through every emotion possible, and I still keep coming back to the conclusion that I want to be with him.

We both have things we need to work on. I'm a workaholic, and he's spent so long trying to be the man his father wants him to be that he's lost track of his own wants and desires.

Neither of us is perfect. But maybe we could grow together instead of going our separate ways.

I take a deep breath, wrapping his coat tighter around me. "Grayson, I promise that I really didn't want to take over the company from you. I work too much as it is, and I just wanted to work with you. Spending more time at LRH seemed like a good way to do that, especially with you taking over."

"You knew that I was going to be the CEO long before I did. You told Dad in that proposal of yours." Grayson takes my hands in his when they start to tremble. He holds them to his mouth, blowing on them and rubbing them between his hands to warm them up. "You believed in me when nobody else did."

"I've always believed in you."

"I know that now." He kisses my fingertips, sending the butterflies in my stomach wild. "I should have believed you when you told me that you wanted nothing to do with running the company. I was too greedy and prideful to take a step back."

"And now that you've taken a step back, what do you see?"

The corner of his mouth tips up as he pulls me into him, his arms looping around my waist. I lean into his touch, missing the way it felt to wake up with him in my bed in the mornings. Or the way we would be tangled in his sheets when the sun came up.

I've missed him.

Grayson presses his lips to the top of my head. "I see everything that I should have been working for. I see a woman who is prepared to stand by my side, even when I'm the biggest idiot in the world."

I slip my hands around his waist, pressing them against his back, feeling the racing of his heart. "I don't think you're the biggest idiot in the world. I just think you screwed up big time."

"I'm sorry." He swallows hard, thumbs rubbing circles on my skin where the back of my dress dips low. "You're more important to me than you could ever know, and I'm prepared to spend the rest of my life trying to prove it to you."

"I love you, too."

"Good." He brushes his lips against mine, the fireworks that have always been between us igniting again. "Do you want to go on a date with me?"

I laugh and stand on my toes, kissing him deeper until we're both gasping for breath. "I was thinking we could go back to my place for a hot shower, since we're both soaked through."

"An even better idea."

As he takes my hand and flags down a cab, I know that we have a lot of work ahead of us, but there's nobody else I want to do life with.

Even on the hardest days, Grayson is still the man I want to come home to.

And I don't think that's ever going to change.

He's my person.