Alice

It's a day for the books.

Because I finally decided to stand up for myself, to stop this nightmare from happening to me again and again.

"What?" Elijah looks at me with wide eyes. "No, Alice, you can't quit your job."

"Of course I can. I'm a chef, I'll get a job anywhere." I squeeze his hand in reassurance, trying to ignore Mr. Howell's laugh as he watches us.

"Well, go right ahead, Miss Epione. You know the way out." He waves toward the door, and I don't even hesitate for another second before I grab Elijah's hand and pull him after me. But just as we reach the doorway, Mr. Howell speaks again, his words unleashing a whole new level of fury in my veins. "We'll see how long she stays if she's not getting paid for it, son."

I can't even blink with how fast Elijah spins around, his fist connecting to Harrison's jaw with a violent thud. Mr. Howell slumps to the ground, clutching his jaw with his hand as he looks up, meeting his son's stormy gaze. "You should learn to shut your mouth when it's good for you, father."

Completely disregarding Harrison's efforts to say another word, Elijah grabs me by the hand and out of the office, heading straight for the elevator. I grab my belongings on the way there, stumbling behind Elijah until we reach the lift, both of us waiting patiently for the doors to open.

The tension is coursing right through my veins when he repeatedly punches the button, his fingers opening and closing around my own until finally the doors open. Elijah steps inside, and the second he presses the button for the ground floor I'm already jumping him, dropping my bag on the floor as Elijah stumbles backward and right against the elevator wall. He holds onto me, his fingers digging into my thighs as I crash my lips against his own, holding onto his neck when he spins us around, my back now pressed against the wall as he steps right in front of me.

"Alice..." He growls, pressing himself so roughly against me that I can't help but moan, the feeling of his hard body against mine instantly sending me on a high that makes me see stars. He keeps devouring me, his tongue lavishly exploring my mouth as I melt right into him, completely offering myself to this god of a man in front of me.

"I fucking hate my therapist..." Elijah groans against my neck as he pulls back, his low and raspy voice sending a straight shiver down my spine that settles right in my core. I can literally feel his heartbeat thunder against my chest, his hot breath sending goosebumps down my throat as we try to compose ourselves, to no avail.

"God damn it Elijah..." I mumble before chasing him again, letting our tongues dance until I feel so absolutely dizzy again, I almost feel like I'm fainting. The sound of the elevator arriving at the ground floor is the only thing that breaks us apart, but even the mere heat in Elijah's eyes makes my legs feel like jello. Hell, every part of my body feels like it's burnt to ashes from the fire in his gaze.

And it seems like he knows, because he just grabs the bag from the ground before he carries me outside, not at all caring about the glances people around us are shooting in our direction. "Elijah..." I whisper, hiding my face in the crook of his neck.

He just laughs, the rumble in his chest making me tighten my hold on his neck as I suddenly inhale a breath of fresh air, the cold breeze making me look up. I realize we're in the parking lot of the office building, and only seconds later Elijah lowers me on the hood of my truck, stepping right between my legs with that shiver-inducing smirk on his lips.

We just stand there for a moment, taking the other in, bathing in this feeling of freedom and sparkling tension between us until I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him toward me, my lips brushing against his skin as I whisper, "You have one hell of a right hook..."

He pulls back, the mischief dancing in his eyes when he runs his thumb over my cheek and retorts, "I only use it when needed."

That simple statement makes me smile, the indication in his voice as clear as day: He wanted to stand up for me.

He didn't just want to - Elijah stood up for me, proved his loyalty, and just how protective he can be if I just let him. And I can't deny that knowing he's on my side, that he's ready to fight for me like that, just warms my heart so much that I physically have to suppress the fresh tears threatening in my eyes. We haven't exactly talked about what we are, where we stand, what label we want to put on us... But this, right here, is the reason I'm not particularly anxious about that.

And not being anxious is something I rarely do.

"Let's spend the day together," Elijah suddenly says, his stormy eyes searching mine as if just doing that would offer him my answer to his question, and already I feel the weight of this day dissipate by just looking at this man in front of me.

"That sounds like a great idea." I smile." "What do you have in mind?"

"Well... You'll see, Alice. You'll see."

Elijah

I knew my father was an excuse for a man to begin with, but I really didn't think he'd stoop so low. I'm so damn proud of Alice for sticking up for herself like that, but I'm also absolutely livid by the way he talked to her.

No one talks to her like that.

No one.

"Where are we going?" she asks, ducking between the branches of the forest while the leaves crunch beneath her boots.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," she answers without hesitation, and that act alone sends another grin on my lips, the fact that she can answer without so much as a second thought warms my heart immensely.

I take her hand, pulling her right into my side as I whisper, "Good, then close your eyes."

She instantly does as I say, and I lead her out of the path and onto the glade I discovered a few years back. I almost forgot about it, but knowing that Alice is a huge fan of nature, I figured this would be a great photo op for her.

"Alright, open your eyes in three... two..."

"A waterfall!" she yells before I can even finish my countdown, and I can't help but laugh when she opens her eyes, a quiet gasp escaping her throat.

"You really know how to ruin a surprise, you know that?" I quip, but I already notice that she's not even listening to me anymore, her eyes wide as she takes in the sight in front of her.

I can only watch how she closes her eyes again, tilting her head to the sky like she was calling out to the sun above us.

This entire scene, the waterfall in front of her crashing into the lake, the scent of wood and blooming flowers, along with the way everything about her just glows from the light the sun casts upon her... It's celestial, unearthly, almost incomprehensible.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" I ask after I settle on the blanket I brought with me, the words leaving my mouth before I even understand what I'm doing.

She turns to look at me, a blush creeping into her cheeks when a smile tugs at the edge of her lips. I watch how she walks toward me, not answering my question as her hand finds my own on the blanket.

We just lie there for a while, enjoying the sunshine and calm of this forest. I just can't help but watch her all the time, watch how she nibbles on the grapes we bought on the way here, how she sighs heavily every time she opens her eyes and sees where she is.

If I had any of her photography skills, I wouldn't stop taking pictures of her, honestly. Sometimes she just looks unearthly, way too gracious to be honouring me with her presence. It feels unreal sometimes, really...

"You know," she suddenly whispers, her eyes closed as her skin glows in the sunshine, "There's one thing that makes me sad about photography, even though I love it so much."

"And what's that?" I ask, her lips curving into a smile when I brush some hair out of her face.

"It's that moments like these..." She interlaces our fingers, letting them dance while she explains, "They can't be captured by anything. No picture, no video, no painting by the most talented artist in this world would be able to portray all of this. The only thing that can even attempt to do that is our brain. And our brain... It's not perfect. Every moment that passes ends in a memory. A memory that will fade. A memory that will become grey and meaningless after a while. A memory that will be reconnected, confused with other images in our head, and then we end up with a fake reminder, one we didn't even experience, because our brain simply can't handle the beauty we saw. It's... It's sad."

I take in what she said for a second, thinking about what to say without sounding like an idiot compared to her.

God, this woman is way out of my league...

"I think," I clear my throat, looking at our intertwined hands on her stomach. "I think not being able to capture it is exactly what's right though, isn't it? If we can always feel what we felt in that moment, just by picking up a picture and looking at it, we'll stop living in the moment and start living in the past. Memories aren't meant to be real. They're meant to be a reminder of what happened, of the experiences of our past. Life would be even sadder if we started living there."

Alice turns to look at me, her emotional eyes instantly settling on mine. I almost feel how my heart stops from the sole sight of her, from the depth in those forest-green eyes. "That's a beautiful way to look at it. I really haven't thought of it that way."

A bright smile crosses her face as she just looks at me, the depth in her eyes now replaced by utter joy, her fingers running through my hair as we just lie there on our sides, facing each other.

And I don't know what it is, but I'm suddenly hit with this realization, a realization that scares the shit out of me before I can even understand what it means.

I'm utterly and irrevocably in love with this woman.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" she asks before I can even make sense of my revelation.

"Oh... Uh... Nothing," I respond out of panic to let something slip, knowing that it is way too damn soon to say or even think this far.

But Alice doesn't play in my league, she simply owns it. Because she suddenly sits up, facing me with a determined shimmer in her eyes as she says, "We're not doing that."

"Doing what?" I ask, sitting up myself while she crosses her legs in her lap.

"That thing where you're acting like nothing's going on even though we both know something is, in fact, going on, and I'm too scared to ask about it. I'm not doing that anymore."

Her resolve would've knocked me off my feet if I wasn't sitting already, really. I need to remember not to underestimate her perception skills.

"I... I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, just be honest with me," she whispers, her voice now much more gentle than before.

Okay, Elijah, how do you approach this without scaring her away...

"Well... My therapist said something today that made me think," I say.

"Okay..."

"He said that he wanted to meet you. That means if we... Uh... If we decided to be, like, serious about us?"

Damn, I sound like an insecure sixteen-year-old kid. The fact that she quit her job should tell me that she's serious about this - and still, I'm nervous, for some godforsaken reason...

My therapist said he's afraid Alice might become an anchor, as he calls it. He thinks that if something bad were to happen between the two of us it would set me back even more. And I mean... I think he might be right about that.

But I honestly can't help myself. I can't stay away from her.

"Elijah." Her soft voice, along with her hand on my cheek, makes me realize I must've zoned out for a second, those gentle eyes looking straight into my soul suddenly. "I don't know about you but to me, this was serious the day you stood there in the rain and begged me to give you a chance. I haven't thought about anyone else since then, and I don't want you to think of anyone else, either. So yes, we're serious. And yes, I'd love to meet your therapist."

I don't even know what to say. Alice blows my mind every damn day, and that smile on her face just fries my brain, honestly. And so I do the only thing I can think of doing as I push her back down on the blanket, caging her in with my hands next to her head when she looks up at me, her eyes dancing with amusement and burning with heat at the same time.

"I can't stand the thought of any man being near you, either. I'm not usually a jealous man, Alice, but with you... You just disarm me. You're on my mind all day and I can't stop worrying and thinking about you, it's actually driving me insane, I think."

The quiet giggle that escapes her throat sends a straight shiver down my spine, and I can't help but sigh, enjoying that sound like it was a melody solely composed to please me.

"God, Alice, you..." But I can't even finish my sentence, she already hooks her hand around my neck and pulls me down, our lips colliding for a passionate kiss that's filled with promises.

Promises that we will create our own memories, that we will survive all of this, as long as we're together.