Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Jameson chuckles softly. “I didn’t realize how sore mine was until back there at the restaurant.”
“Really?” I ask him.
He nods, using his thumb to brush away a tear from my cheek. “What’s that say about us, do you think?”
I’m starting to get ahold of myself now. My shoulders are no longer shaking, and I’m not crying as hard anymore. But my brain still isn’t working, so all I can do is shrug.
“I don’t know, Jameson…”
He smiles and leans closer, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close so I’m basically sitting in his lap.
“You know what I think?” he asks. “I think it means that we’re meant for each other.”
My heart nearly leaps from my chest.
“What?”
“That’s right,” he replies, pushing my hair back from my face. “Why else would it be you that is able to find my sore spot like that? Or me that’s able to find yours?”
“I—I don’t know…” I stammer, staring into his eyes, which seem transfixed on mine. They’re so beautiful, so handsome, so strong and knowing.
“It’s because we’re meant for each other, Iris.” He says it with such conviction that I instantly believe him. It’s not even a question.
My entire being falls into his grasp as though it’s something I’ve always known. It’s like that moment back when we were kids and I tried to kiss him but he stopped me. I’ve known it for the last three years—that we were meant to be together—and I think that’s why it hurt so much when he disappeared and I thought that there was even the slightest chance that he had abandoned me.
“Yes,” I reply, my voice barely a whimper.
“What was that?”
I smile. I know damn well he heard me. He just wants me to say it louder.
“Yes,” I say, louder this time, feeling my cheeks go hot and red. “You’re right! You know you’re right!”
“So you’re saying we’re meant for each other?” he asks, slipping his thumb beneath my chin and guiding my lips in towards his.
I nod. “Yes.”
“So are you saying…you love me? Because I love you, Iris.”
Oh my God. He really just said it. Did he?
My heart nearly leaps from my chest, and I swear, the spectrum of color of the world bursts to ten times what it was a moment ago. Even the sounds around me suddenly feel like music as they enter my ears.
“Iris?” Jameson smiles, shaking me from my stupor. “Earth to Iris.”
I realize I’ve been staring, gaping with my mouth open, for what must have been seconds as he looks at me, having just told me he loves me.
“Yes!” I blurt out, reaching out and grabbing hold of his strong, enormous hands. “I love you, Jameson! Of course I do!”
His lips twist into a grin that melts my heart into a pool of warm butter. I open my lips to take his kiss as he leans in and close my eyes to accept it. And as our lips meet, it’s as though the entire world has fixed itself. Maybe not forever, but at least for right now.
Chapter 20
Jameson
Inever should have let her words upset me. She obviously didn’t mean to say what she said, and I should have known better. That’s my job in this relationship: to know better. To be better. To be strong, reliable, dependable, and to never let my emotions get the best of me like they did back at the restaurant.
But I guess she pressed that sore spot inside me, and something came out that I just was not expecting. So many things I swore to never think about again rose back to the surface like an invading army and took over me in a split second.
Surviving in Albania took every bit of energy I had. I was so exhausted at the end of every day that I wasn’t even able to think about the loss of my parents. I had to just push forward. I saw every day as a step I had to take, leaving the past behind me, forging a new life for myself completely on my own.
Once the money started to come in, I continued to bury myself in my work. Without time, there was no time to think. No time to confront the terrible loss I had suffered. And when I was finally able to return to the States, I found Iris and convinced myself that I would simply start over with her, and everything would be okay.
I would protect her, and she would heal me. But now I understand that there’s far more to life than that, and that we must both heal each other.
Her kiss is like warm honey as I slip my tongue into her mouth. Her entire body is hot against mine, and I can feel her heartrate quicken as I take hold of her wrist and pull her onto my lap so she’s straddling me.