Chapter 97 Rain a
Melissa’s POV
I lay curled against Gavin’s chest, my body was still warm and I was still calming down from the pleasure of what we’d just shared. My finger traced lazy patterns across his skin, following the lines of muscle, the curve of his ribs.
I pressed a soft kiss to his chest, right over his heart.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
I tensed slightly, a little bit shocked I wasn’t expecting that sound. Then another crack of thunder, it was louder this time, and suddenly rain began pelting against the windows. It was hard and urgent. The sound filling the quiet bedroom.
I sat up immediately, not caring that the sheets fell away, leaving me completely naked. My attention was fixed entirely on the windows.
“Gavin, look!” I scrambled out of bed and ran to the floor-to-ceiling windows, pressing my hands against the cool glass. “Rain! It’s raining in January!”
The city was transforming before my eyes. Rain poured down in sheets, washing the streets, making the lights blur and shimmer. Everything looked softer somehow. Cleaner.
“This is my absolute favorite weather,” I breathed, my face close to the glass.
I felt Gavin come up behind me. His arms wrapped around my waist, his chest warm against my bare back as he looked out over my shoulder.
“When I was a kid,” I said softly, “my dad would always take me out to play in the rain. He’d put me up on his shoulders and we’d run through puddles and just… laugh. We’d come home soaking wet and Mom would pretend to be mad, but she’d be smiling the whole time.”
My hand pressed flat against the window, fingers spreading.
“He made everything fun,” I continued, my voice getting quieter. “Even something as simple as rain. He’d make up stories about where each drop came from, what adventures they’d had before falling to earth. I’d listen to all of them and believe every word.”
Thunder rolled again, closer now.
“I miss that,” I whispered. “I miss him so much sometimes it physically hurts.”
Gavin’s arms tightened around me. His lips found my shoulder, pressing a gentle kiss there.
“What happened to your dad?” he asked quietly.
I was silent for a moment, watching the rain streak down the glass.
“He was shot,” I said finally.
I felt Gavin’s entire body freeze behind me. His grip on my waist tightened almost imperceptibly.
“Gambling debts,” I continued, my voice flat. Matter-of-fact. Like I was talking about someone else’s tragedy. “He owed money to the wrong people. They came to collect. He couldn’t pay. So they…”
I didn’t finish the sentence. I didn't need to.
I turned in Gavin’s arms to face him, looking up into those blue eyes that saw too much.
“What about you?” I asked, deliberately changing the subject. “Do you like the rain?”
He was quiet for a moment, his hand coming up to cup my face. Then he leaned down and kissed my neck, soft and lingering.
“I’ve never really played in the rain before,” he said against my skin.
I pulled back to look at him, surprised. “Never?”
“I tried once.” His thumb stroked my cheekbone. “When I was very young. It didn’t end well for me.”
Something in his tone told me there was a story there. A painful one.
I looked at him…this powerful man who’d shown me so much tenderness, who held me like I was precious, who’d just made love to me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world.
And my heart broke a little for the boy he must have been. The one who’d tried to play in the rain and been punished for it somehow.
“Come with me,” I said suddenly.
“What?”
“Come with me.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward his closet. “We’re going outside.”
“Melissa, it’s three in the morning…”
“I don’t care.” I was already pulling on one of his t-shirts, the fabric falling to mid-thigh. “You’ve never played in the rain. I’m fixing that. Right now.”
He watched me with amusement.
“You’re serious.”
“Completely serious.” I found sweatpants and pulled them on, rolling the waistband several times so they’d stay up. “Come on. Get dressed.”
He hesitated for just a moment. Then he smiled…a real smile that made him look younger…and reached for clothes.
We dressed quickly. Me in his too-large clothes. Him in jeans and a simple black t-shirt.
Then we took the elevator down to the ground floor, my hand clasped tight in his.
The doorman looked surprised when we walked into the lobby.
“Mr. Cross? Is everything…”
“We’re fine, Thomas,” Gavin said calmly. “Just going for a walk.”
“In the rain, sir?”
“In the rain.”
Thomas opened the door for us, his expression was calm even though I could see the confusion in his eyes.
The moment we stepped outside, the cold rain hit us.Drenching us within seconds.
I tilted my face up to the sky and laughed. The sound felt like freedom.
Gavin stood beside me, rain already plastering his dark hair to his head, running down his face. He looked… uncertain. Like he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him further from the building’s overhang, into the full force of the downpour.
“Touch it,” I said, raising his hand palm-up to catch the rain. “Just feel it.”
He watched the rain collect in his palm, then overflow and run down his wrist. His eyes tracked each drop with an intensity that was so perfectly Gavin it made me smile.
Then he looked at me.
Standing there soaking wet in his oversized clothes, my hair plastered to my face, probably looking like a drowned rat…and the expression on his face took my breath away.
Like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Like this moment was something he’d remember forever.
He walked toward me slowly. Rain continued to pour down around us, creating a curtain that made the rest of the world disappear.
When he reached me, he didn’t kiss me like I thought he would .
Instead, in one smooth motion, he bent down and lifted me up onto his shoulders.
Exactly like my dad used to do.
I gasped in surprise, my hands automatically going to his head for balance.
“Gavin! What are you…”
“Hold on,” he said simply.
Then he started walking. Just walking through the rain with me on his shoulders, his hands steady on my legs keeping me secure.
I looked down at him…at the man who was giving me back a piece of my childhood…and felt tears mix with the rain on my face.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He must have heard me despite the rain because his hands tightened on my legs.
“Anything for you, piccola,” he said. “Anything.”
We walked like that for a while. Through the rain. Through the empty streets. Just us and the storm and a moment of perfect, simple joy.
And for the first time since my father died, I felt his presence without the accompanying grief.
Like he was there with us. Smiling.
Telling me it was okay to be happy. Okay to love again. Okay to let someone else make me feel safe.
Thunder rolled overhead and I threw my arms out wide, feeling the rain on my palms, feeling alive in a way I hadn’t in years.
Gavin’s laughter rumbled up from below me. Rich and genuine and so rare it made my heart skip.
“I love you,” I called down to him through the rain.
“I love you too,” he called back.
And there, in the middle of a storm in January, with me on his shoulders and the world washed clean around us…
Everything felt possible.
Everything felt right.
Everything felt like it might actually be okay.
Even with the dangers coming. Even with the wars brewing. Even with all the impossible choices ahead.
Right now, we have this.
And this was enough.