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“I thought I was in love with Gunnar for so long.”
There it is. When she says it again, her words hit me like a sucker punch right to the gut. She’s holding my hand, staring straight up at me, her beautiful brown eyes looking into mine, and talking to me about loving another man.
She shakes her head. “But it wasn’t real. None of it was real. It was all in my head. It was this fantasy I built up about him. And it’s not his fault. Gunnar never saw me as anything more than a friend. I’m the one who built up this… mirage around him.”
She takes a deep breath and then forges ahead with whatever it is she needs to say to me before we get home. “But I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know I didn’t really love him now. I never loved him.”
My jaw is clenched so tightly I can barely get the words out. “Why do you know that now?”
“Because now I know what it’s like to really be in love with someone. You’re real. You’re right here. I can reach out and touch you. And when I do, you wrap your arms around me and hold me tight. I like being in your arms. I love you, Jameson. I’m in love with you. You and me are nothing like I expected, but you make me so damn happy. I just… love you.” She gives me a massive, perfect Lily smile. “Don’t worry. You don’t have to say it back or anything. I just needed to tell you. I wanted you to know that I’m in love with you, kid.”
“Are you telling me you love me because you’re drunk? Or because you really love me?”
“Because I really love you.” She doesn’t hesitate for one second before answering me. A sweet smile plays on her lips as she stares up at me. She’s so fucking beautiful. So fucking perfect. I know I don’t deserve her. But as long as she’ll have me, I’m never letting her go.
“I’m going to need to hear you say it tomorrow when you’re stone-cold sober, babe. And the day after that. And the day after that, too.”
“Okay, kid. I love you. And I’ll tell you every single day.”
“Say it one more time…”
“I love you, Jameson.”
“Lemon, I…” She presses her fingers over my lips, shutting me up.
“I meant what I said. You don’t have to say it, I promise. It won’t hurt my feelings. Love is complicated, and it’s different for everyone. It takes its own time. I’ll wait.”
“Are you going to let me talk?”
She doesn’t even think it over. “Probably not.”
I catch her fingers in my mouth and bite at them until she pulls her hand away.
“Lemon?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t have to wait. I love you, babe. I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for a long time now. And I knew you loved me, too. I was just waiting for you to figure that out for yourself. Thanks for not making me wait any longer.”
She bites her lip again, her eyebrows pulled together. “Are you telling me you love me because you’re drunk? Or because you really love me?”
“I’m not drunk. You are.”
She gives me one of her sweetest smiles as she stares up at me. “So, you really do love me?”
“Yes, I really do love you.”
Her eyes are narrowed as she frowns up at me. “Are you trying to steal my thunder, kid?”
A huge smile pulls across my face. Reaching out, I press my hand against her face, rubbing my thumb over her soft cheek. “Nothing could steal the thunder of the first time you tell me you love me, Lemon. Nothing. Not even you being drunk off your ass.”
“I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”
“And this is what you picked? We’re going to have to work on your timing, babe.”
But we have all the time in the world to do that now. Because she’s in love with me, too.
It takes twice as long as it should to get my Lemon home. But I get her home safe and sound.
