Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Nope. They get absolutely no credit for this.”
I laugh. “What are you thinking about?”
He moves my arm and then rolls onto his side to face me. Sleepy, relaxed Jess is my favorite Jess.
His hair is mussed up and his eyes soft. He’s thoughtful and pensive, gentle and sweet.
I press a simple kiss against his lips.
“You want to know what I’m thinking?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
“I’m thinking about tomorrow.”
My stomach twists. “What about it?”
“How am I supposed to go from this—having you to myself, getting to hold you whenever I want—to having to set up an appointment to see you?”
“An appointment? My schedule isn’t that full.”
“You know what I mean.”
I do. I’ve been wondering that too.
“It’s like being given the best treat in the world and then having it taken away, isn’t it?” I ask softly.
He grins.
“We’ll make it work,” I say. “We live in the same town. We both work all day. So we’ll just text each other on the way home from the office and see if we can meet up. Or we can put a rule on it—at least four dinners together a week.”
His brows pull together. “What about breakfasts?”
“I’m sure we’ll be together most weekends.”
“What about when we brush our teeth together?”
I laugh.
“What about this—talking about shit in the middle of the night? Or walking by a room and seeing you sitting in there and getting to smile at you just so you know I’m thinking about you?”
I cup his cheek in my hand. “Why are you so thoughtful?”
“Because I don’t want to go back to the way it was.”
“I … I don’t know what you mean.”
But I think I do.
“Look, I’ve spent the last thirty years without you. And it’s been great—I’ve had a great life. It was fine. But now I know what my life can be. What it should be. And nothing is going to make sense again without you.”
My eyes burn with unshed tears. This man is going to kill me.
“I get it,” he says, his eyes searching mine. “We’ve done this for a week now. Maybe. But that’s not really true, Pippa. Doesn’t it feel like we’ve always done this—we just didn’t know it? Like, we were taking the long route to get here?”
I nod, afraid to speak. If I open my mouth, the tears will fall.
“Will you move in with me?” he asks.
“Jess …”
“I don’t want to waste any more time without you. And I’m sure there’s shit we haven’t thought about, and we’ll have arguments because that’s what couples do. But I want you to know that there’s nothing you could do to make me not love you. Love doesn’t start and stop. I think I was born already loving you, and I’ll die the same. It’s a continuous thread in my life.”
I push him onto his back and climb on top of him. I lay my head against his chest as he holds me.
Tears collect against his skin and flow down his shoulder. He places a palm on the back of my head, rubbing it against my hair.
“I’m not pushing you,” he whispers. “Unlike my family, I respect boundaries. But I’d rather put the boundary around the two of us. I’d like you to trust me to love you and take care of you like you deserve.”
I don’t deserve Jess Carmichael. I’m not sure anyone does. And this could be a setup for epic disaster because losing him would be the ruination of me. But it’s too late for that.
My head spins as I realize what I’m about to do. But there isn’t another choice. When you know, you know.
“I just think a lot of people scramble around and assign the word love to things that probably aren’t love at all.”
I was righter than I even realized.
“Yes,” I whisper against his ear. “I’ll move in with you.”
A burst of energy—of excitement, anticipation, and joy—fills me. I smile when I look at him. The smile grows as I see the same thing that I’m feeling written on his face.
“Seriously, Pip, if you ever make me sweat something out like that again, I might not make it through.”
I laugh and sit up, straddling him. “I’m happy.”
“I’m glad.”
“But keep in mind that I have a lease to deal with. And utilities. And—”
“And you forget that we’re a team now. Those are all things that we have to deal with now. Not just you. It’s never just you anymore.”
I lean forward and kiss him. But as soon as our lips touch, it’s as if a deal has been reached.
Jess rolls me over onto my back, never breaking contact.
He kisses me intentionally, deliberately—carefully. It’s as if he’s making promises to me that only my heart can understand.
My legs open, and he moves between them. My hips tilt, and he slides inside me without breaking our kiss.
He moves his lips across my jaw, pressing them softly against my skin. His hips flex into me unhurried. Like he has all night. Like he has all the time in the world.