Jesse shook his head. “I work in a print shop.”
“I love that you do.”
“I live in Bridgeport.”
“And I love your home.”
Dammit, this was so much harder than Jesse had imagined it would be.
Shutting his eyes, Jesse said, “I’m not enough for you. I can’t be.”
Shame flooded his cheeks. Fuck.
Within two beats of Jesse’s heart, Arthur closed the gap between them. He took Jesse’s face in both of his hands and forced Jesse to meet his eyes.
“Oh, my sweet Jesse, you are more than enough.”
“I’m not,” Jesse said, his voice cracking in the most humiliating manner possible. “Arthur, look at your life. And then look at mine. You were right to send me home that night. If not because of my shoddy clothes, then to spare me from future heartbreak. Heartbreak that will come when the newness of our relationship wears off and you realize how ridiculous it is for someone like you to be with someone like me.”
Arthur began to stroke Jesse’s cheeks with his thumbs.
“It was wrong of me to have sent you home. I’m so truly sorry that I hurt you like that. And including you in my life will be the most sensible thing that I’ll have ever done.”
Jesse took a step back, pulling away. He couldn’t contain his shameful truth for even a moment more.
“I’m fromLake Township, Arthur. Do you know where that is?” he spat. “It’s in the back of the fucking Union Stockyard. It’s one of the poorest neighborhoods in the whole Goddamned city. And I lived there. I was raised there. I only barely made it out, and even then, I only made it to fucking Bridgeport, where I’m practically on the brink of homelessness. You live here on Prairie Avenue. One of the wealthiest neighborhoods, if notthewealthiest neighborhood, in the city. Or, hell, maybe even one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the whole entire country. You live in a beautiful, expensive neighborhood in a ridiculously ostentatiousmansion and—”
“Itisa little ridiculous, now that you mention it,” Arthur interrupted with a soft chuckle that made Jesse’s heart flutter and his knees weak.
He clenched his teeth.
“Dammit, I should hate you. In fact, Ididhate you. When we first met, I hated you because of your money. And still sometimes, I...” Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Jesse blinked back tears. “Arthur, why would you want me?”
“Because you’re perfect to me, Jesse.”
“I can’t be.”
“You are.”
“Lookat your home. It makes no sense.”
“Does it have to?”
Before Jesse could make even one more peep of protest in response, Arthur took hold of his lapels and pulled him in for a hard kiss. Jesse let out a little whimper-sob the moment their lips crashed together, Arthur’s clearly evident passion nearly bringing him to his knees.
“I want you in my life, Jesse,” Arthur rasped out between kisses. “Always.”
Jesse let out one more half sob.
“You’re enough for me, Mr. O’Connor,” Arthur said. “I promise.”
Over the next few minutes, the two continued to kiss, and in between the passionate meetings of their lips, Arthur kept on repeating those same beautiful words over and over.
You’re enough for me.
Each repetition of this wonderful, ridiculous statement soothed Jesse’s injured heart a little more, and finally, Jesse began to let himself believe in its truth.
Arthur really was trying to make things right.
