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She rested the tips of her fingers on his lips, silencing his words and stealing the oxygen from his lungs. The velvety softness of every inch of her skin should have been criminal.
“Listen, Sparky, you’re under some delusion I haven’t been paying attention to you for the past twenty years. Like I don’t know your mood swings and your behaviors better than you do.” She dropped her head and a small smile curled her lips. “But I am getting way ahead of myself. Shut up and put your mask on like a good little boy.” She gave him two small pats on the cheek and skipped around the front of the car, climbing in the driver’s side.
Far more obedient than normal, Dean slid into the passenger’s seat, pulled his door closed, and put the makeshift blindfold in place. “All right, lead me to my demise.”
Silence and a quick squeeze on his thigh was the only response. Damn it. The woman had no idea she already was responsible for his complete and utter destruction. Especially if she walked away at the end.
He ground his molars together as the car jostled him around, clearly no longer on a paved road. He had to tell her he loved her. The thought had played through his mind on repeat as the dark inky sky of the night bled through into the early morning rays with him still awake and staring holes through the ceiling and out the large front window of Wyatt’s house.
Dean took a deep, calming breath as the car pulled to a stop and Jillian’s door opened and slammed to his left. Her soft, warm fingers curled around his hand and she pulled him out of the car and to his feet.
She stopped after a few feet, but never released her grip on him. “I missed you last night.”
Her soft, whispered words landed directly in the center of his chest.
He itched to take the blindfold off, his eyes greedy to devour her, but he stood still, his thumb stroking across her knuckles. “I missed you too, Jillybean.” It was the truth, but it only scratched the surface. “But I’ve missed you for more days than I can even attempt to count.”
Finally, finally, she pulled the material free and he blinked against the noonday sun, overly bright after being in the darkness for even a few moments. The light glinted off her hair, highlighting the different shades of red and few strands of blonde and somehow managing to make her look even more stunning, a feat he once thought impossible.
Damn it all to hell, he was pretty certain he was falling farther in love with her by the day.
Just as he opened his mouth to answer, she held up a hand, palm facing him. “We need to talk.” She waved her arm over to Fredrock where she’d set up a blanket covered with food and wine. “And I was trying to avoid a deep, meaningful discussion when I was both sleep deprived and hangry, so we might need to eat first.”
Excitement and nerves swirled together, his gut twisting into knots, making even the thought of eating a total impossibility. Every cell in his body was pleading to hold her, but he dutifully sat down on the swatch of material instead as she piled a plate high for him and then a higher one for herself as she took the spot across from him.
Chocolate covered strawberries and small squares of brownie accompanied chocolate chip cookies and truffles. “Got a theme running here?”
“It’s a comfort food. Don’t judge me.” She popped one of the cookies in her mouth and glared at him.
Dean took a bite of a strawberry, not even registering the taste as he chewed and swallowed. “What do you need to talk about?”
She pulled her lips inward and bit down on them. “You need to talk and I need to listen.” She angled her legs and tucked them beneath her. “I want you to tell me what you do at the ranch and then I want you to tell me why it’s taken this long for you to share that with your best friend.”
He shook his head and looked across the water glittering in the noonday sun. One of the few times in his life he’d planned something with infinite detail and…she already knew. He’d plotted and imagined then reimagined exactly how he’d share the ins and outs of his program with her at the same time he would tell her he loved her, because the two went so perfectly hand-in-hand. But he’d seen the brochure in her hand that outlined exactly how Recovered Hope operated.
“You read all the highlights.”
Jillian set down her plate and firmly clasped his free hand in both of hers. “I have waited for years for this moment. Do you honestly think I never knew how you felt? That I never noticed how every single cell in your body changed anytime anyone asked what you planned to go to college for or what you were going to do with your life?”
Shock drew his gaze up to meet hers from where it had been studying the threads in the material beneath them. “I never told you.”
She snorted softly. “You never had to.” She drew their joined hands into her lap. “Now, tell me about your program, which I definitely haven’t memorized every detail of from the brochure.”
Grow a set, he silently chastised as he took a deep breath. “Actually, thereisone really important detail that isn’t in there.”
Jillian wiggled her hind end so she scooted closer to him. Excitement sparkled in her emerald eyes, nearly stealing his ability to focus. “Yeah?”
He nodded. “Yeah. See, I have this best friend who is sometimes an annoying pain in the ass,” he winked at her narrowed glare, “but also is the most passionate and selfless human I’ve ever met. She was the inspiration for me to find something bigger than myself to work toward.”
Dean set his food down on the blanket to his left and cupped her cheek. He lowered his voice to being just above a whisper. “Somehow along the way to finding my purpose in life I wound up falling in love with her.”
Her mouth fell open and they sat for countless moments with only the buzzing of the dragonflies and bees to break the silence.
***
Jillian
Present Day
