“So you want to start dating? We’d be a couple?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would we move to San Diego? That was all about finding someone to fall in love with. I’ve done that already. I don’t want to move, I want to stay here and—”
She had more to say but suddenly he was holding her and kissing her, making it even harder to think.
“You love me,” he murmured against her mouth. “You didn’t want to lead with that?”
She smiled. “Sorry. I was kind of distracted by what you were saying.”
He gazed into her eyes. “So we’re in love.”
“We are.”
“Is this a permanent, forever kind of love?”
“It is for me,” she whispered.
“Me, too.”
“Good.”
They stared at each other. He smiled.
“It’s too soon to make it official,” he told her. “But in a few weeks, I’m ready for the next, forever level if you are.”
“I am,” she whispered, feeling the rightness of the moment. This time she would say yes. This time she would say she wanted the rest of her life with him.
“Good.” He kissed her. “I love you. We can move if you want.”
She slapped his arm. “No one’s moving. We’re staying right here, where we both belong.”
“Good.” He stroked her cheek, then kissed her again. “But we’ll sell the house and buy a new one.”
She thought about that for a second. “I don’t think I need a different house,” she said slowly. “Maybe we can make a few changes, but I’m okay staying there.”
“You’re not concerned about the Kim memories?”
“No. I like them. They make us who we are.”
He started kissing her again, this time inching her backward. “We have two hours until I have to be home.”
“That long? Whatever will we do with the time?”
Jax wasn’t sure if anyone would show up for the July Diary Days. After the debacle of taking down the wall, she didn’t know if everyone had been scared away. But exactly at ten in the morning, people started walking in with their old diaries. A few bought new ones.
Cheryl took charge and there were a couple of employees on hand to do any required ladder climbing. Once Jax saw things were flowing smoothly, she retreated to her office where she pulled out her phone and started to text Marcus. As she had fifty-seven thousand times before, she got halfway through a sentence, then deleted it. What was she supposed to say?Hi. It’s me. I messedup?
Wasn’t that a message better delivered in person? Besides, what were the odds that he wanted to talk to her, or in this case, listen to her grovel? Romantic relationships were stupid and she was perfectly happy—
“Are you ever going to finish your sentence?”
She gasped as she looked up and saw Marcus standing in the doorway to her office.
“You’ve been almost texting me for a week,” he added, his expression unreadable.
He looked good, she thought as her mouth went dry and her throat got all tight. Handsome, tall, solid. And here. He was here. That had to be good, didn’t it?
