Warm tingles dance over my skin.
“I still haven’t booked my flight,” I confess in a whisper.
“You haven’t?” He searches my eyes, and the deep rumble of his voice makes me lick my lips.
“Every time I’ve picked up my phone to do it, I’ve put it off. It’s like Ican’tdo it.”
“You don’t have to do it.” His eyes darken with an intensity that makes my breath catch in my throat.
Every vibration I’ve felt, every bolt of energy in his presence all hit me at once; swirling around inside my gut like glitter in a snow globe as I admire the beautiful warmth in his blue eyes.
“I don’t want to do it,” I admit, finally speaking my truth. Not that it will make everything easy. But at least for the first time since coming to New York, I’m finally being honest with myself.
I don’t want to leave Sterling.I want to grab onto the happiness, the belonging, thefatethat I feel when I’m with him.
I want it all. I just don’t know if having it all is possible.
“If there was a way I could stay here and not hurt Mum and Dad, not risk my business, not?—”
My words cease in my throat as he cups my face and presses his thumb against my lips.
“What if I told you we’ll find a way together, no matter what it takes?”
“Then I’d want to believe you. I’d really want to believe you.”
“Then believe me. Because I swear, I won’t give up searching for it as long as there’s life in my body.”
I look at the complete and utter determination in his eyes. He’s always had faith in something bigger than us. In there being a way that this all works out.
Jenny would be so disappointed in me for not grabbing what’s right in front of me.
I used to be that person, filled with hopes, dreams and faith. When did I lose her? Is it enough just to choose to be her again? To start now? Making new choices. Listening to my instincts. Not allowing happiness to be something only for other people, but for myself as well?
I place my hands on top of Sterling’s, where he’s cupped my cheeks.
“I want to go to bed.”
“Does your head hurt again?” Concern knits over his brow.
“No. I wantyouto take me to bed.” I hold his eyes, driving my point home.
“You’re sure?” he asks, his voice like velvet being dragged over rough gravel.
“Have you changed your mind?”
His lips curl into a sexy smile tinted with tenderness. “Baby girl, I willneverchange my mind about that.”
“Then show me?—”
Before I even finish speaking, he grabs me, hoisting me up into his arms and crashing his lips to mine.
His kiss is urgent and burning with passion, consuming every doubt I have and letting them fly away like dandelion seeds on a summer breeze.Gone.
A wave of bright sparkling energy ignites heat in my veins, traveling through me at lightning speed.
And I soak it in.
I let go of every doubt and fear that I’ve been controlled by since I met him. And I welcome the magic that I fought so hard to re-direct. Our magic. This indescribable, soul-altering connection that’s always been there between us.
