AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why didn’t you tell me you helped my mother to get better?”
He takes a breath, holds it, and lets it out again. “She got better all on her own.”
I know he won’t take any compliment I give, so I simply say, “Thank you, Jake.” I bite my lips together before building enough courage to speak again. I can hardly hear anything over my pulse beating frantically behind my ears. “I read the letter.”
With a smile edging on his full lips, he drops his head before meeting my gaze again. “You honestly didn’t think I’d be able to forget you, Trouble, did you?”
I shake my head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. I do both. “Why didn’t you say something?”
One large stride forward, and his breath is in my hair, hands cupping my face, and like all the times before, his touch reminds me of who my heart truly belongs to.
“Because you scared the hell out of me. That day when we met, I told you to see the good in your days when, apart from Jay-Jay, I was struggling to see any. That night, when I tried to think of something, I closed my eyes, and I saw the smile of a stranger.” He brushes my hair behind my ear before feathering his knuckles across my cheek. “So, when you walked into my office, I did the only thing I could think of. Anything to close you off. Anything to not—”
“Fall in love with me,” I finish.
He nods, pressing his forehead against mine. I smooth my palms against his chest, fingers tingling as I fist at his shirt.
“But you did,” I add.
Another nod. “So fucking much.”
“Do you still? I understand. It’s been over a year.”
“Christ, yes.” He kisses the top of my head before curling his fingers under my chin. “I lived with a fear that you wouldn’t come back, and I was happy loving you from a distance if it meant that you were happy. But seeing you today. Seeing how you’re the same yet so different. I knew—even if you decided it’s not where you belong—I knew you’d always be mine.”
I was never meant for anyone else.
Two halves of a soul would never fit together as perfectly as ours.
My hands are trembling when I whisper under my breath, “Yours.” Stifling a sob, my heart swells so much that I can hardly breathe. “I am. I belong with you because I’m yours, Jake. I’ve always been yours.”
“Oh, thank fuck,” he sighs, laughing against my mouth. His fingers tangle in my hair, gently gripping it until my head falls back. Throat exposed, I’m sure he can see me swallow my nerves. “Can I kiss you?”
“If you don’t, I’m going to teach Jay-Jay the worst pranks, and—”
He doesn’t let me finish.
Lips on mine, the words melt away, and I moan into his dizzying kiss.
It reaches so deep, we become part of each other.
My mouth parts in a gasp. Our tongues devour. We claim each other as our lips collide over and over.
With a vibration of pleasure from his throat, we’re everywhere. My skin burns from his touch as he snakes a hand around my waist and presses me flush against him.
I don’t need him as life support anymore, but I want it.
“Fuck,” he growls, holding my head and pulling away.
Why is he pulling away?
He rests his head against mine, frantic breaths making our chests heave.
Breathless, we look at each other and laugh.
“Why are you stopping?”
“Believe me. It’s taking every ounce of strength I have not to have you. But you deserve more than what I gave you before. If we’re doing this, I want to do it right.”
