Chapter 38 Say Yes, Scarlett
Instead of standing, she starts crawling toward me, her hands and knees sliding across the ice like a very determined toddler.
"That's cheating," I say, laughing hard.
She ignores me, pouting the whole way until she reaches me.
I stare down at Scarlett with a smirk. "You lazy…"
She grabs the front of my trousers and yanks hard.
I lose balance, landing hard on my ass and groaning from the pain.
Before I can recover, she crawls over me, trapping me beneath her with her arms at both sides of my head.
She's breathing hard from the effort, but there's a triumphant smile on her face.
"Got you," she whispers breathlessly.
I stare up at her beautiful face, my hands snaking around her waist.
"You're heavier than you look."
She gasps, slapping my chest. "I will leave you here on this fake ice."
"No, you won't. You're too comfortable."
She goes quiet for a second, then a laugh breaks out. A wild laugh that has me laughing too.
"This is not how I pictured this going, Lawrence." She says, still laughing, dropping her forehead to my chest.
"How did you picture it?"
She lifts her head. "More graceful, and less of this…" she gestures to us lying on the ice.
"I think this is my favourite part of the day," I admit softly.
"You wanna know what my favourite part is?"
"Sure. Tell me."
"This," She presses her lips to mine.
The kiss is soft, tasting like the hot chocolate we had earlier. But when she smiles against my mouth, I can't help but grin too, which turns the whole thing clumsy and perfect.
We're lying on fake ice in an empty rink, and she's kissing me like it's not weird at all.
A polite cough interrupts.
We both freeze and turn at the same time to see the venue manager, standing at the edge of the rink.
He's trying very hard to look anywhere but at his billionaire client lying on the ice with a woman on top of him.
Scarlett scrambles off me so fast she slips twice. I rise with as much dignity as I can muster.
"Sorry to, uh…" He gestures vaguely. "We close in ten minutes, sir."
"We'll be right up," I say.
The manager nods and retreats quickly.
Scarlett buries her face in her hands. "I'm never showing my face in public again."
"Technically, this is private."
She hits my arm hard.
"Not helping!"
I laugh again and pull her against me for a quick hug.
"Come on. Let's get you off this death trap before you break something."
We wobble our way back to the boards together. She clings to the railing while I help her sit and unlace her skates.
When we're both back in regular shoes, she crosses her arms. "You owe me for that humiliation."
I stare at her blankly. "You're the one who tackled me, then kissed me," I point out, my voice dry. "If anyone's owed something here, it's me."
"I wouldn't have done it if you'd stayed put. But you escaped to the middle of the rink because you knew I wouldn't be able to come get you easily." She jabs a finger at my chest. "You deserved that tackle, Mr Moore."
"Fine." I pull out my phone to call Elias. "Name your price."
Her eyes light up with an evil little gleam.
"I won't demand much," she says sweetly. "Only that you watch Stranger Things with me. It's that simple."
"Nope." I shake my head, pocketing the phone again and taking her hand in mine as we start walking toward the exit.
"Absolutely not. I'd do any other thing but that."
She pouts like a child denied a second scoop of ice cream.
"I don't want anything else." She tugs my hand, slowing our pace. "Why won't you give this to me?"
I glance down at her, fighting another smile.
"Because I can't be watching kid shows. It's silly."
She stops walking, forcing me to stop too.
"It's more than just a kids' show," she argues. "It has a lot of physics like electromagnetism, and quantum entanglement vibes in the Upside Down,"
My mouth twitches in amusement. "Oh, really. What do you know about electromagnetism and quantum entanglement?"
She rolls her eyes, continuing. "There are also parallel dimensions and government experiments. That kinda stuff. You might actually like it."
"You're making that up."
"I'm not!" She tugs my hand again. "There's real science in there."
Watching her this geeked up about a show makes my heart warm.
I exhale finally. "You won't let me breathe, would you?"
"No, I won't." She tilts her head. "The show is one of the best, you know."
She tugs my hand again. "Come on. One episode. If you hate it, I'll never ask again."
I stare down at her, watching her beg me with her eyes.
"I'll even watch whatever boring documentary you want about… I don't know, blockchain or mergers or whatever keeps you up at night."
"Fine," I mutter. "One episode."
Her face brightens in happiness.
"Yes!" She bounces on her toes, then throws her arms around my neck in a quick, impulsive hug. "You won't regret it. I swear."
I wrap my arms around her waist, smiling against her back.
"I already regret it."
She pulls to look at me, grinning. "You won't."
We walk the rest of the way to the car hand in hand.
Elias is already waiting with the Maybach, door already open. He gives us a polite nod but doesn't comment on the fact that we both look windswept and a tad ridiculous.
I wait till Scarlett gets in first before entering, then pulling her to my chest.
"Thank you for today." She whispers. "It was really nice."
I kiss the top of her head. "Anything for you, babe."
We sit in silence while Miles Davis spills from the hidden speakers.
Something's been nagging at me these past few days.
We've fallen for each other harder than before, and we both know what this is.
But we haven't named it.
And I hate that limbo more than I expected to.
"Scarlett," I say softly.
"Mm?" She doesn't lift her head.
"Look at me."
She shifts, sitting up slowly, so she's facing me properly. "What?"
I've never done this before, or rather, never had to.
Women have always come to me, drawn by the name, the money, the power, the carefully curated image.
I've never asked or had to risk hearing "no."
And I'm terrified she'll say no. Or that she'll say yes, and I'll ruin it the way I ruin everything that matters.
"You know how in any complex system," I begin, ignoring the anxiety tugging at my chest, "there's always that one component…the piece that seems small, maybe even replaceable at first glance… but without it the entire thing fails?"
It's stupid, beginning like this, but I've already started.
"The single tool that every other tool depends on, even if it doesn't look like much?"
Scarlett watches me curiously. "Yeah…?"
I take her hand in mine. "That's you," I say. "For me. You're that piece. The one I didn't know I was missing until the whole system started crashing without you."
A soft gasp leaves her throat.
"I've spent years convincing myself I could run alone, but every time you're not here, everything feels… off. Incomplete. Like I'm missing the one tool that makes all the others actually work."
I keep going, because if I stop now, I might never start again.
"I don't know how to do this. I've never had to ask. Never wanted to. But I'm asking now. Scarlett…" My voice falters a bit. "I need you. Not just in my bed, or in my office. I need you in my life. Officially. Completely. As mine."
Lifting her hand to my lips, I press a kiss to her knuckles.
Her eyes shimmer, and she stares at me for a long moment, searching my face before pressing a quick kiss to my lips.
"Yes," she whispers.
Relief crashes through me so hard I almost laugh.
"Yes?" I repeat, needing to hear it again.
"Yes." She smiles wider. "I'll be your girlfriend, Lawrence Moore."
I let out a deep exhale, cupping her face with both hands.
"Good," I say softly, meaning my next words very seriously. "Because now I'm never letting you go. Ever"