"I was never insane
except upon occasions
when
my heart
was touched."
~ Edgar Allen Poe
Gretchen Williams raised an eyebrow as she eyed the girl who was peering into her boss' office.
Ace Hardwood wasn't a man who tolerated insubordination, especially from his employees, but over the past many weeks, she had come to learn that there might be an exception. Scarlett Ambrose seemed to get away with a multitude of sins.
As the young girl poked her head into Ace's office, Gretchen couldn't help, but shake her head with a little smile.
"Come in, Ambrose," she heard Ace tell the girl through the door that Scarlett had opened, "You look like you're just about bursting at the seams."
Scarlett had graduated from hesitantly knocking on Ace's door and waiting for a reply to simply poking her head in until he noticed. As Scarlett walked in, Gretchen wondered what the next step would be.
Scarlett smiled like she had a secret as she entered Ace's office.
He, as usual, was reading through some documents. The office was filled with the sounds of soft jazz, just the thing Ace needed to be deep in thought. His gaze raised to Scarlett as she approached.
"Why do you look like you have something up your sleeve, Ambrose?" he asked, turning a page of his document.
"Because maybe I do," she replied, smiling broadly, "You're playing jazz today."
Ace nodded, looking down at his papers. "As I do sometimes."
"Does it help you think?"
Ace nodded again. "Very much."
Scarlett walked forward and leaned forward against the table. "I found something," she said, her voice filled with soft excitement.
Ace closed his eyes and smiled a very small smile. "You're not going to let me work until I hear this, are you, Ambrose?" He opened his eyes to see her shaking her head, still wearing that smile of hers.
"Alright," he closed the file and tossed it on to his large desk and leaned back in his chair, "Tell me, Ambrose. What has you so excited?"
"I found something I think you'll really like," she said.
Ace nodded. "What is it?"
Scarlett pointed to the stereo system that sat in a corner that was currently playing mellow jazz. "May I?"
He nodded.
She walked over to the system and stopped the music that was playing, plunging the room into silence. After fiddling around for a few moments, she turned, beaming to look at Ace.
As he waited and listened, the soft sounds of a crackling fire trickled into the room, mixing in with the sultry sounds of smooth saxophone-centered jazz. His ears perked up as the relaxing sounds touched his ears and he couldn't help, but smile.
He let his head fall back against the leather chair he was seated on and closed his eyes.
"Quite blissful," he said, softly as he opened his eyes a while later, his eyes fixating on Scarlett, who was watching him.
"Isn't it?" she asked, in a soft, but enthusiastic tone.
They both always seemed to match their tone to the music, when listening to jazz.
She walked towards him slowly. "I thought you'd like it."
"I do," Ace lulled, "Where did you find it?"
Scarlett shrugged, leaning against the edge of his desk. "YouTube. Isn't that where you find the best things?"
Ace laughed, softly. "I guess you're right. Recipes for Korean potato pancakes and jazz by the fireplace. This is incredibly soothing."
"I think it's the fire crackling. It really adds some ambiance."
They silenced themselves, listening to the music. The pair were situated so close to each other than Ace's knee was grazing Scarlett's and neither of them moved.
Their eyes were closed as they soaked in the music.
A few minutes later, Scarlett sighed, making Ace realize where he was and he opened his eyes.
Scarlett lowered her gaze to meet his eyes. She had a small smile on her face. "I think I'll get back to work now," she told him, gently.
It took a few seconds for Ace to nod. "Alright."
They sat still for a few more seconds before Scarlett pushed herself off the edge of his desk and walked out. Gretchen followed her with her eyes all the way out of Ace's office and into her own.
Inside her office, Scarlett leaned against her closed door and sighed, feeling the strangest fluttering inside of her. She wasn't familiar with it, so she pushed it off and went on with her day.
It was around two in the afternoon when the knock came on her door.
"Yeah?" she said, looking at the door as she stood at the cabinet.
Ace opened the door and walked in, locating her near the piece of furniture that she used as a standing tabletop.
"How fitting that you're there," he said.
"Why?" Scarlett asked, turning to him and leaning against the cabinet.
"Doesn't that hurt your neck?" he asked, gesturing to the low position of the top of the cabinet she used as a desktop.
Scarlett shrugged. "I go back and sit down when it starts hurting," she said.
Ace didn't look particularly pleased at the answer. He angled his head towards the outside and said, "You guys can bring it in here."
He stepped aside and Scarlett watched as two men carried a strange wooden contraption into her office.
"You can set it right near that desk," Ace told them and they obliged.
When they turned to go, Ace said to them, "Gretchen will see that you guys have what you need."
The men nodded and left the room, leaving Scarlett alone with Ace and the new addition to the furniture in her office. She raised her eyebrows as Ace came towards the desk.
"What is it?' she asked, looking at it.
Ace began to raise a flat portion of the contraption and adjust it so that it stood like a counter. "This," he told her, slotting things into place, "Is your new standing desk."
"My what?"
"Standing desk," Ace repeated, "Now, whenever you want to stand and work, you can just shift your things on to this and adjust it to the height that you want with these."
He pointed to some knobs, but Scarlett was too shocked to pay attention.
"My what?" she asked again.
Ace looked at her, finally. "Ambrose, really, you're a bit smarter than this. It's a standing desk. I put in an order some time ago because of your preference for standing while you work. I was thinking it would improve your work ethic."
Scarlett cocked an eyebrow. "What's wrong with my work ethic?"
"I'm saying that there's always room for improvement. Ergo, standing desk." He gestured to it.
Scarlett's mouth was open and she stared, her gaze moving from the desk to Ace. "A standing desk?" she asked with a tremble in her voice.
Ace nodded. "Yeah. Don't cry, Ambrose. It's just a desk."
Scarlett's eyes were rounded. "But you got me a desk, so that I can stand and work." She reached out and brushed her fingers against the polished wood, "Oh, I love it. It's beautiful. It's probably the best gift I've ever gotten."
"Well, it's hardly a gift, Ambrose. It's just to help you do your job better."
Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Way to ruin a moment."
Ace rolled his eyes and sighed.
Scarlett sighed as well. "Oh, gosh, thank you for this." She squeezed Ace's hand.
"Thank you for the jazz," he told her, "You don't know how much work I got done."
Scarlett laughed, softly. "I guess we're both on the way to getting a ton of work done."
Ace smiled his small smile.
Slowly, they released each other's hands.
"I'm going to get back to work," he told her, "You enjoy your new desk."
Scarlett nodded as Ace walked out.
His heart was happy with what had happened during the day. He didn't even mind the look that Gretchen gave him as he walked back into his office.
For the rest of the day, he was occupied with various meetings and when he got back to his apartment about an hour after Scarlett had returned, there was a strange sense of coming home. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and looked outside through the large windows.
The sky was clouded over and he was sure that it was drizzling. There was no sign of thunder or lightning, but he wondered whether Scarlett was afraid of rain as well.
When he walked into the living room to retrieve his mail and heard soft sounds of his favorite jazz drifting through the room and out on to the balcony. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw outside.
Scarlett was out on the balcony, seated on the large brick square at the end of the railing. She wore a light linen dress and had no shoes on her feet. Her eyes were closed and her face was tilted up, a small smile on her face, deepening every time that a rain drop fell on her face.
Ace watched as she opened her eyes and held her arms out to catch more drops of rain.
His mail forgotten, he took off his suit jacket and tie and stepped out on to the balcony, the chilly air enveloping him. He walked all the way over to her. Scarlett caught him out of the corner of her eye and turned to smile.
"Fancy you being out here in the rain," he said, softly, with a smile.
"Why?"
"You tend not to like the rain."
Scarlett smiled. "I don't like storms. I like the rain, though."
"You like the rain?"
"The rain is wonderful."
Ace leaned against the railing with his elbows. "You really are an enigma, Ambrose. You're quite the paradox, actually. Why do you like the rain?"
"Rain makes the world feel new," she sighed, happily, catching raindrops in her palms. "There's a sort of magic about rain."
The droplets of water that fell dampened their clothes in random spots.
Ace angled himself towards her. "What is your obsession with magic?"
Scarlett turned so that she was facing him. With her seat on the balcony railing, she was finally at eye-level with Ace. "When you've lived a severely ordinary life, you try to look for magic in everything."
"You think you've lived an ordinary life?" he asked.
Scarlett splashed some of the water she had collected in her palms on to him and shrugged. "It hasn't felt too magical."
"I think people put magic into things," Ace pondered.
"Sometimes," Scarlett agreed, "But the world is magic on her own."
"Well, technically, every person is a world of their own. So, everyone, even you, has a magic of their own."
Scarlett stared at Ace, thoughtfully, her head cocked to a side. Slowly, a gentle smile spread across her face. "That is a beautiful sentiment," she told him.
Ace mirrored her smile.
Silently, they stared at each other as the rain fell around them. Scarlett's dress was starting to stick to her skin in places, but she didn't notice. The only thing on her mind was the fact that Ace was gazing at her intently, with his insistent green eyes. The pace of her heart quickened.
Ace watched her, a drumming brewing in the depths of his chest.
They were silent for a long while as they stared at each other.
"Scarlett."
Scarlett's breathing deepened and her smile spread.
"You've said my name, Ace."
Ace smiled back.
"And you've said mine."
Another few moments of charged silence passed and Ace took a step towards Scarlett, ridding much of the space between them.
"Scarlett," he said again, in a smooth, soft tone, "May I kiss you?"
Scarlett's breath hitched and she bit down on the corner of her lip as she leaned towards him.
"You've done it before and you didn't ask. Why are you asking now?"
Ace looked from her eyes to her lips and she did the same to him.
"Because the first time, I thought that's what you wanted. The second time was in the heat of the moment. But now, it's what I want and I don't know if you want to kiss me."
Scarlett's eyes brightened as she stared back at him. She leaned towards the edge of the balcony railing, pressing herself into Ace.
"Aeson," she breathed, "I want you to kiss me."
Ace's parted lips curved into a smile.
He pressed himself against her dangling legs and took her face in his hands.
She put her hands on his shirt collar and pulled him towards her.
Slowly, they leaned into each other and pressed their lips together.
Suddenly, it wasn't chilly anymore.
It was very, very warm.
There was a fire somewhere.
It seemed to originate between them.
It was a deep feeling of warmth that neither of them had had the pleasure of experiencing before.
Ace pressed his hand to the back of Scarlett's neck and pulled her closer to him.
Scarlett pushed herself so close to the edge to be as close to Ace as she could, that the only reason she was still on the ledge was because Ace was supporting her.
They kissed, their lips moving in sync, as they clung to each other dearly.
Breathing no longer seemed important because the breaths they exchanged were so much better.
Ace raised his head, but immediately put his lips back on to Scarlett's like she was the only thing that was keeping him alive.
Scarlett reveled in the feeling of being wanted, cherished and every other wonderful thing that came with Ace's kiss and kissed him back, hoping he felt the same warm, earth-shattering feeling that she did.
When they finally pulled away, gasping for breath, it took a moment for both of them to slowly open their eyes after the kiss they had shared.
Ace brushed her hair off Scarlett's face and rested his forehead against hers, mirroring her blissful smile, trying to drown out the thumping in his heart.
"Thank goodness it's Friday."
I have an inkling of a feeling that this is what you have been waiting for.
What will happen now in the lives of Ace and Scarlett now?
Are you excited now?
Don't forget to let me know what you think.
Much love!
I N T R O D U C I N G
The latest installment to The Billionaire Series!
Follow the story of your favorite, Isabella Hammond in the brand new installment of The Billionaire series.
Coming Soon!