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by.” Her voice was soft, slow. Unsure.
“Laine.” His head dropped forward. Thank God. “I’m so sorry. Please tell me there’s a chance. That it’s not too late.”
“I’m sorry too,” she whispered. “I should have talked to you. I should have told you what happened, the bride—”
“I know about the bride. Connie told me. But it shouldn’t have mattered and I realized that before Connie explained, for what it’s worth. I’ve been dying without you. The way I treated you, walking past, like you’d done something so wrong you didn’t deserve a single word. It was horrible.”
“You had to be thinking about your fiancée.”
“You aren’t Sophia. That’s no excuse… Laine, I miss you.”
“You should have come by sooner.” Her voice was cool, unreadable.
If she meant because of that punk in her apartment… no, he’d win her back. He had to. “I should have, I’m such an assho—”
“You’re an asshole.”
Her smooth voice echoed out of the open elevator, ripping him from his self-pity off the floor and onto his feet inside a second.
Laine stood against the back corner of the mirrored car, stripped down to her sapphire bra, panties and heels, one foot planted against the side rail, the other on the floor. The fingers of her right hand traced lazy circles around her belly, while those of the left snapped her phone shut.
The air felt thin coming in and out of his chest. “Laine…”
“I said ‘You’re an asshole.’ You scared the hell out of my new assistant this morning.”
“Assistant?” Oxygen seemed to reenter his system, rush his brain.
She arched an eyebrow at him. “His name is Max. He’s been trying to get me to take him on as my apprentice for a while now, and last week we struck a deal. I’ve always liked the idea of working for myself, but, out of loyalty to Connie, I couldn’t consider it. I didn’t want to betray her after everything she’d done for me—giving me a chance when I was starting out—by going into competition with her. But now I know it’s the right thing. I’ve started my own company, Buttercream Brides. I don’t have an office yet, so we’re working out of my place. But that’s not why I’m here. Max gave me your message… something about you loving me?” Her eyes shone with hope and then flashed to mischief as she continued to stroke the skin across her abdomen. “You owe me a rain-check. And if you think you can get off without delivering on a debt, clearly you don’t realize who you are dealing with.”
Jason was in the elevator within two strides. Dropping the phone, his fingers wound in her hair, tilting her head back, he met her mouth in a ravenous kiss. And then, tearing himself away, he looked into her eyes.
“Laine, it’s been hell these last seven days. I love you. I don’t want to live without you.”
She wove her fingers into his hair and pulled him close to her face. “Then don’t.”
Jason was solid, warm. Real. Not the dream that had left Laine frustrated and confused every night for the past week. Gripping fistfuls of his shirt, she clung to him, desperate to feel him, to know that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
She’d been going through the motions of moving on with her life, but none of it felt real. None of it felt right. Deciding to start her own bridal consultant business should have been a thrill; it had been her dream for so long. But not having Jason to tell about it, to celebrate with her, left a drab sheen over the entire event. She missed him at every critical moment, expected to see him every time she turned around. For two years he’d been there whenever she’d needed him—as if he sensed her every emotion and need. He was there to bolster her when she felt doubt, to argue with her when she needed to get back on track. To hold her when she couldn’t stand to be alone anymore.
It had been crazy not to run back to him and explain, beg him to understand. She’d been hurt, and her ego had gone into a full on temper tantrum when he’d walked through the lobby with that disappointed look plastered across his face. She’d been furious and brokenhearted.
But then she’d thought about it. They believed in the same thing passionately enough that both were willing to take a stand in the name of love and honesty. Both willing to sacrifice something they loved to do the right thing. She couldn’t work for Connie anymore because Connie didn’t care about the outcome of a marriage past the last dance of the wedding day. Laine cared about the outcome of the couple’s life together.
Jason believed in love and honesty so much that he was ready to walk away from her when he thought she didn’t respect it. And he loved her enough to come after her, even before he understood, because he had faith in her. He was the man who made her believe in fairytale romance, the magic of weddings, and the lives she touched when she made them happen.
“Jason, I love you. I need you too.”
He pulled her tightly into his arms and tilted her head up to look at him. She could feel his heart beating against her chest. Then just as quickly he pushed her back and grabbed her hands, searching them for something.
“Did your assistant give you the cake?”
She blinked, looking up at him. He seemed tense.
“Yes.” She leaned down and brushed her discarded clothes off the box. Lifting it by the tie, she held it up for him. “I brought it, you bad boy.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “So you haven’t opened it yet?”
“No. I wasn’t going to start without you.”
