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Dropping another kiss on the tip of his nose, she continued. “Such a know-it-all, so macho, and so obnoxiously arrogant sometimes.”
His beloved dark eyes crept open slowly as he looked at her.
“I can’t change who I am,” he murmured, not looking away from her.
“You’re assuming I would want you to,” she said huskily as she met his gaze head-on. “I’m just trying to figure this out in my head so I can come to terms with what's in my heart.”
“And what is that?”
“You,” she beckoned tenderly and felt his hand touch her back as she leaned forward to kiss him. His dark eyes closed as he waited patiently for her, letting her take the reins in their relationship.
She barely brushed her lips against his, almost wanting to tease him, and felt him shiver slightly.
“Are you cold, Pudding?”
“Far from it,” he chuckled softly distractedly, his breath against her lips. “Now, what were you saying?”
“I was trying to figure out what this is between us,” she admitted, kissing him tenderly once more as she felt his mouth open slightly under hers before backing off. “Sometimes I think I know the answer deep within me, and other times I doubt myself…”
“Never do that,” he breathed.
“Then I think, ‘we’ve only gone on walks’ or ‘we had hospital cheesecake’…”
“Which wasn’t half-bad,” he confessed, the corner of his lip turning upward in a smile.
“And then I realize that if I stay here – ifwestay here? What does our future look like?”
“Do you want a future… with me?”
Jake’s voice was the barest whisper and revealed so much. There was an intensity to his words, an emotion raw and ragged in his tone that spoke straight to her soul.
She didn’t answer and waited for him to open his eyes once more. As he did, she saw the defensive shutter that hid his beautiful heart from her and knew she had him pegged correctly.
“Let’s dream for a moment about such a wild and crazy idea… asus,” she whispered, wiggling deliberately against him and saw his eyes roll back into his head as he drew in his breath. It was a few moments before he looked at her, lifting an eyebrow pointedly, and the corner of his lip curled up mockingly.
“You don’t want to do that, Lumberjack,” he warned, and she ignored him, knowing he was all bark when it came to her.
“Let’s say that six months down the road, Houghton needs this cabin for another soldier, a veteran, a reservist, or whomever. Do I go back to Sweet Bloom? Where are you going? Honduras? Are you coming with me? Do we stay here together and find a place outside of Laramie? What does that futureevenlook like to you… to me?”
Jake was deathly still as he looked at her and swallowed.
“Hmm?” she hinted, touching his lower lip with her finger and waiting for a sign that he was going to answer her or give up some clue to his thoughts that she was getting so good at reading.
“Lena,” he said hoarsely, looking at her. “I’m a jerk. I make snide comments, and people tend to get mad at me, they tell me I’m an…”
“I know,” she interrupted, frowning. “Don’t saythatword.”
And he chuckled, rolling his eyes in amusement.
“See? I say things likethat,” he said pointedly. “I don’t sugar-coat things. I say what is on my mind, and if people don’t like it? Then they can just go…”
“Eh-hem,” she interrupted pertly, lifting an eyebrow.
“… Jump off a cliff?” he finished, smiling, as she nodded in approval.
“I already knew all of that,” she said simply, “but that doesn’t answeranyof my questions. What do you think our future looks like – if we have one? What do you dream of when you think of me?”
Jake laughed aloud, throwing back his head, as his hand came to rest on her back tenderly.
