Chapter 15: Nine Years

Vicki's POV

I let him carry.

By eight on Friday morning the ballroom floor was clear and the riser was up.

Elias had been working for seven hours without once saying my name.

He rolled the round tables into place and set chairs without being told which side was the front.

I watched him do it from the top of an eight-foot ladder, with a banner in my hands.

The banner said Safe Travels, Carson and Cass in gold letters.

I had ordered it before any of this. It was my job to hang it.

"Left end higher," Elias said from the floor.

"I know where the left end goes."

"Okay."

I reached for the hook, and the ladder slid an inch on the polished floor.

My stomach dropped. I grabbed the rail and swore.

Elias had my ankle before I finished the word.

His hand closed around it above my shoe, warm and rough.

The other hand gripped the ladder leg to hold it still.

"I've got you," he said.

"The ladder's fine."

"The ladder is not fine. Stay there."

I stayed there.

I could have stepped down. I didn't.

His thumb sat against the bone of my ankle, and it moved once, slowly, back and forth.

I told myself it was because his hand was cold from the dock.

I told myself he did that to everything he steadied, boards and chair legs and ladders.

He did not look up. He was looking at the floor, with his jaw very tight.

"Vicki," he said. "Come down. Please."

I came down one rung at a time, and his hand followed my ankle and then my calf.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Matching Game. Everyone Knew The Answer. Except Me from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.