I shake my head. “The sunset is for you. I see everything I need to see.”
She dips her head until her black waves cover her face and releases another round of giggles.
“Why do you keep giggling? Do I make you nervous now?” I cup her chin so she can face me but her eyes focus on my lips. “Look at me. Do I?”
Her green eyes reflect brown in the low light. Her beauty is profound because it’s not a surface thing, it’s who she is entirely. Her shrug is faint when she responds.
“No. It’s just the way you say it sounds like…”
“I love you? Because I do love you.”
Karessa’s eyes snap to mine and everything I feel is swimming in her depths. They sparkle with unshed tears but it’s time for our feelings for each other to be known. I take advantage of her shock to add to my statement.
“When I realized we were getting married, I made a vow that I would make you love me. I didn't factor in falling as well, but I have; hard. Get ready because my love is a fully submerging experience. You’re surrounded by it. You hear it, see it, feel it.” I grab her cheeks and wipe her tears with my thumbs. “And I can feel the way you love me. You don’t have to say it because I know you love me Karessa Giselle LeClaire.”
Her shock is laced with amusement since she’s not used to hearing her middle name. I had to bribe her sister, but it’s good information. She melts into my kiss like I’ve been denying her forever and I don’t think I’ll get enough of her reactions to me.
“I love you, too, Jagger Liam Hanlon,” she whispers against my mouth, making me the one smiling like a crazy person.
“I know.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Karessa
Last night was amazing.Hearing Jagger express his feelings for me is something I wouldn’t have thought possible at the beginning of all this.He loves me.Almost eighteen hours and a full night of sleep later, it still gives me butterflies. That moment will stay with me forever. Right now, he’s off doing a favor for Ainslee which leaves me and the big man. His wife is still knocked out and after hilariously verifying this morning that she’s still alive, we agreed to let her sleep.
I surface after putting out work fires to find him couch surfing again. Except I know he's on his work email based on the slight frown on his face that speaks to concentration. Not the ‘fun’ kind either. Some of his hair falls in his eye and he unconsciously pushes it away and continues his search. Ainslee is obsessed with his hair so I can almost hear her sighing in my head.
“Looks like work found you, too,” I quip as I settle next to him. Oran gives me a half smile as he finishes what he’s doing.
“Not anymore,” he finally says, then drops his phone on the cushion.
It’s amazing that even the memory of what happened the last time we were on this couch doesn’t make us being alone weird. I give myself a moment while he flips through the channels to consider how I want to ease back into where we left off before I used him as bait.
Braving a glance at his profile, It’s hard to tell if anything is on his mind. Oran is like stone; I wonder how he plays poker. Oran’s face breaks into a smirk.
“Jagger is right. When you have something on your mind, I can almost hear you thinking. Out with it, Karessa.”
Tucking my feet under my butt, I sit on my knees to face him.
“It’s no big deal.” I start but decide to just spit it out like he said. “Just picking back up from yesterday. I just wanted you to know that although I used you as bait, I was serious when I thanked you for letting me in a little. And I want you to know if Ainslee and Jagger are unavailable, you can talk to me.” He’s looking at me but I don’t know what he’s thinking. “Also, I apologize for using that moment to annoy Jagger.”
“It’s okay, Trophy.”
Confused, I tilt my head, trying to figure out where he means. “Trophy?”
“What?”
“You just called me Trophy.”
Oran shakes his head like he’s bringing himself into the present. “Sorry, I had this weird dream where I called you Trophy.”
I smirk. “Do I want to know?”
Oran laughs and pats my hand. “It’s no big deal. Nothing crazy happened, but that was your name somehow.”
“You’re right. That is weird but it’s amusing being inTheOran Hale’s dreams in any capacity.”
