I stood too. Before she could escape, I pulled her back by her elbow and wrapped my arms around her. She stiffened against my chest, definitely didn’t hug me back.
I leaned, dropping my cheek to the top of her amazing hair. “I don’t know how to be all the things I’m supposed to be for you, but I’m not going to quit till I figure it out.”
She started relaxing. Felt her hands move at my thighs. I rubbed the middle of her back in a slow circle, pulled her closer with the other hand.
“I’m stubborn. You know that. I’m not giving up on us.”
Her hands came to the small of my back. Gingerly, like she was afraid of getting tangled up.
“I’m not wearing a ring because I have butterflies. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely do. It’s pretty crazy how bad they are.” Wasn’t that the truth. This woman could wreck me with a single glance. I pushed her back a little and she looked up. Those big brown eyes waiting for what I might say.
I continued slow. Wanted her to hear every word. “I’m wearing it because I love you. I’m not sure how many times I’ll have to say it for you to believe me.”
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth.
“If you want to end things, fine. Just know every time we cross paths, every time we pass Kacey back and forth, every time we text or call, every time our lives intertwine…I’ll be there, and this chapter—Jack and Miranda—doesn’t end. Not for me.”
Her poor bottom lip was losing color.
I cupped her chin with my hand, swiped my thumb across her lip. She released it, and the pink flooded back in. A millimeter of her tongue came out, putting moisture back into her lips. Man, if only things were different. I wanted her so much I could hardly breathe.
My voice was hoarse with concealed desire. “Sleep on that, okay?”
She nodded and I watched as she slowly made her way back up the stairs. My hand came to my ring finger as I twisted the symbol of our union. To the rest of the world, I was taken. Even if she refused to take me back.
FIFTY
Jack
Afew days went by. Miranda did her best to keep her distance.
But, overall, that mission was doomed to fail.
Because, see, I knew something about her she refused to admit—that shewantedto be around me. She could hide it from the outside world and keep up the charade with herself. But she couldn’t lie to her husband. I saw her. She lit up when I walked into a room. She was eager to share. She watched me when she thought I didn’t notice.
I never stopped noticing. Not for a second.
She was too easy to engage. Too easy to make smile. Too easy to hook into conversation. Too easy to fluster when I pressed in close.
When I teased her about it, she dug her grave with excessive vehement protesting.
We couldn’t help it. Falling into a rhythm together was asnatural as the sun and moon rising and falling. We’d always talked like two old souls. Our first date was five hours long for crying out loud. We were polar ends of a magnet. Pulled together despite feeble attempts at dumb boundaries.
Miranda tried to keep up walls, but convincing her was a piece of cake. I didn’t have to twist her arm to get her to sit with me. When I offered we watch something, she’d put up a distant front for about thirty seconds then “reluctantly” agree. She’d go to the kitchen for popcorn then settle back on the couch a little closer than she was before.
Which is why when I told her I asked the Moores to babysit Kacey so I could take her out for the evening on her birthday, she responded with the wholeJack, that’s a terrible ideabull crap. But then agreed less than half an hour later.
Our two months were up in two days. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. This was my last ditch effort to convince her to stay. Unfortunately, convincing her to go out for her birthday and convincing her to stay married to me forever were whole different ball games. A small voice in my gut said this gesture was too much, but I followed my plan anyway. Needed to go big or go home.
I pushed the thoughts away and turned my sights on my woman, who sat in the passenger’s seat looking pissed because I forced her to put on a blindfold about five minutes ago.
For now, she was my focus. I’d worry about our longevity later. If all this ended in flames, I wanted to soak in every second. Memorize each moment so I could torture myself until my dying breath with memories of the woman who stole my heart.
Miranda had her arms crossed, her lips pressing together in frustration. I’d nearly run off the road a few times. Callingher a distraction would be downplaying reality. She’d gotten dressed up. Her pale yellow maxi dress had tiny crisscrossing straps in the back. Bare shoulders showed off the tan from her hours outside with a tank top. Her hair had one loose braid wrapped around the back of her head. The rest of it hung over one shoulder.
“Why won’t you just tell me where we are going?”
“Because I’m afraid you might jump out of the moving truck if you figure it out.”
