Hearts untamed

CHAPTER 1 The soft caress of the gentle evening breeze on my skin woke me up, “I'm not letting you stay indoors and waste away, Lilly, ” scolded my best friend, Alexa, announcing dramatically as she opened my window. Alexa is strongly against my solitary lifestyle and has made it a mission to revive my almost-dead social life. She hates the idea of me wanting a life without romance and choosing to work to afford a comfortable life. Since moving from California to New York for a fresh start to live with her, she has been relentless, trying multiple ways to get me to open up and start a relationship, but that's something I'm not ready for or see myself being interested in any of it not anymore, being the main reason I had to move to a different state to start anew. The word “Love”? It scares me. My heart tightens at the thought of it, knowing it comes wrapped in surprises waiting for you, good or bad. “I'm fine alone, Lex”, I said, using a nickname I've always called her since our first meeting in high school, where she helped me up after I had just tripped on my shoelace, classic me being the stumble-bum and because it sounded more smooth in the tongue and felt like home rather than her full name Alexa which always sounded too formal and sharp. “I'm not dragging you along tonight to come to find a man better still Prince charming”, she groaned, “I just hate seeing you buried up in, wasting all this” she gestured to me “You're too damn gorgeous to be hidden from the world and working every minute behind four walls”, she says, giving me a playful punch to the arm. Optimism was written on her face as she tried to talk me into tagging along as her plus-one to her company's anniversary party tonight. “Yeah, gorgeous. Yet not enough to be good enough and accepted by someone's family” I let out a sharp, bitter whisper. Memories I've tried so hard to put behind me hit like a wave, my vision becomes blurry while reminiscing thoughts that stung and relentlessly pushing me to break down. My chest clenched. Blinking against the blur clouding my vision, his name wasn't mentioned but his shadow loomed over me. The memories were of my ex, Reuben, who was supposed to be my forever but I was never enough for the life he came from. Being the man I was once, or rather still, in love with, the one person I had planned to spend forever with, he had shattered my world when he couldn't pick me and is happily married, spending his life with someone else, while I rot here, with the fear of rejection holding me back. I am frightened when it comes to giving love a second chance. I feel the sharp pain once again, relieving the pain I went through. Before my feelings could spiral further, a pair of warm arms draped over me and pulled me into a familiar hug. Lex's arms wrapped around me tightly and tears fell as I buried my face in her chest. I let out a sob. Biting my lower lip, trying to hold back more tears. “It’ll forever be his loss”, Lex whispers softly against my hair, “you're a beautiful soul, the kind of woman people spend their whole lives wishing for and anyone who doesn't see that? Is either blind or yet to find out the regret of the biggest mistake of their life'” We stayed in the same position in silence, the hum of comfort between us with Lex rubbing her hands softly on my hair until the familiar ringtone from Lex's phone broke the silence. Lex pulled away with mischief lighting up her face. “Now, do me a favour, get that sexy, green mini body con dress of yours we got from our vacation five summers ago”, she grinned “yes, you know the one that always screams EAT ME every time you wear it. I need you to put it on for tonight and look drop dead sexy”, giggles Lex in excitement, and with that, dashes off to take her call and get ready, leaving me staring at the closet. Lex is what I call my lifesaver. When things ended with Reuben, I became emotionally fraught, I was a wreck. I became depressed, and if I owed anyone for dragging me out of the emotional grave I buried myself in, it was her. Reuben came from a wealthy family and privilege, and I… Well, I came from part-time jobs, fighting tooth and nail with scraped knees, to stay afloat. His parents never accepted the idea of us because they always saw me as a gold-digging nobody. He swore they would come around, but they never did. To them, I was always a nobody trying to ride their son's coattails. He proposed right after we graduated and I said yes without hesitation, heart first, because he made me believe that love would be enough and head nowhere in sight. I thought we had made it. That somehow, we had beaten the odds, but when his parents gave him a choice, me or his inheritance, he hesitated. That hesitation turned into ghosted texts, missed calls and then silence. Until one morning I turned on the news and there it was, his wedding, not to me, but to a polished and acceptable lady who was a family friend and almost as wealthy as they are. I didn't just lose love that day but my entire plans for the future. I lost my home and had nowhere to rebuild it. I had nowhere to go because I had lived with Reuben from the third year we started dating and going back to my parents wasn't an option because they were already struggling. I refused to be another burden, so I had to remain here to work and send help. That's when Lex flew from New York to California, to find me. She gave me a choice to move in with her across states to start anew, and with a grateful heart, I accepted. Now three years later, I'm holding the dress and standing in front of a mirror. But something in me has changed. Back then, I never cared how I looked, never felt the need to try because I had Reuben who used to drown me in sweet words. But when he left, I broke down. Physically and emotionally. I lost so much weight, my eyes were dull, my spirit duller, and I could barely recognise myself in the mirror. But time, turns out, really does heal if you're willing to fight for your healing. In my second year in New York, I built myself again. I swapped comfort food for actual nourishment, I started taking morning walks, and going to the gym. Hotter, smarter and stronger I built myself. A smile curled on my lips staring at the emerald green bodycon that clinged every curve and damn I look good in it. My first night out in three years and first party in New York. A few hours later, we're both dolled up like we just stepped out of a fashion editorial with Lex in a sleek black dress that hugs her figure. Six-inch silver heels you could see when she moved, and the highlight of it all were the red almond-shaped nails that shimmered against her pale skin. With her silver choker and earrings, she looks like a dream with everything sparkling. With gold jewellery catching the light in my green dress, a set from the yin-yang necklace Lex got us on our tenth anniversary of friends turned to sisters three years ago hangs over the collarbone and heels taller than my confidence. Lex insists on driving and always does. “A tortoise moves faster than you”, she would lament whenever I was on the wheel, and honestly, she wasn't wrong. Competing with drivers on the road isn't exactly my forte And because I knew Lex, we were definitely spending time at the party and with that, I tucked my favourite black platforms behind the passenger seat, just in case my ankles started protesting. “It's the company's fortieth anniversary and for the first time, some new coworkers and I will be in the same room as the CEO and the Giovanni family ”, she says, buzzing with excitement in the twenty-minute drive to the venue, giving me more insight about the party. The Giovanni's, a name always in the shadows. They're a private, powerful and mysterious family who doesn't do press or PR. Lex's excitement is contagious, so I nod, listening as she gushes about the big night ahead. Finally, we're at the company's headquarters in Manhattan. We pull into a large parking garage, and a valet waves us towards the section marked ‘Employees only’ after Lex showed her card to the scanner at the gate. I instantly regret not grabbing a jacket as I step out with the evening chill biting my bare arms. I wrap my arms around myself to keep myself warm, admiring the scene before me. Still taking everything in and before I knew it, Lex was already dragging me forward, her grip unrelenting and strong as she spotted someone she knew. Trying to keep up with her bounce as she's practically flying, full speed ahead as always, I lift my dress slightly to keep tripping in my heels Lex lets out a squeal running towards them, releasing her grip from me and forgetting for a moment that I'm tethered to her excitement. And that's when it happens, like a balloon caught in chaos, my balance shifts. My foot wobbles as my purse slips from my hand. Before I can even call out her name… I'm falling … …. and everything goes still. Still waiting for the fall, a deep, musky, woody, and strong wave of undeniably male scent hit my nose like a tide rolling in. Slowly, my eyes fluttered and my vision came into reality not less than an inch apart, with the most handsome face I have ever seen in my twenty-six years staring right back at me through thick lashes and striking green eyes that reminded me of the forest after a sweet summer rain. He looked unreal as his eyes searched mine with something deeper than curiosity like he was reading every emotion I had buried for years beneath my smiles. My body remained frozen, feeling like I was in a trance with Lex's voice faint in the background, calling my name, but I couldn't respond or blink with my chest tightened. He felt magnetic in a dangerous way with his presence swallowing the air between us. Narrowing down to more features on his face, he was ridiculously handsome with a sharp jawline that accentuated neatly groomed and trimmed hair, on his left earlobe, a single diamond stud glinted, catching the ambient light of power and control. “Are you okay, love?” came the voice, wrapped in confidence, and low with chilling calmness.