“Oh, do you know Leanne?” he pointed at her and asked.
She tilted her head to the side and grinned.
“Anyway, Cillian’s a talker, he’s always had what peoplecall the gift of gab. But in third grade one day, right after the bell rang, the door opened, and a brown-haired girl in a red sweater and ponytails walked in, and his jaw dropped. He didn’t speak for the rest of the day, not at recess, not at lunch, not at P.E. Then on the bus ride home, he turned to me and said, ‘I’m going to marry that girl. I’m going to marry Leanne Porter.’ I thought he was crazy, and I said, ‘How do you know?’ He said, ’Cause she’s the one.’ I was talking to Cillian on the phone the other day, and he officially welcomed me into the She’s-the-One club. I am a card-carrying member now, so yeah, I would have waited a year, or two, or ten, because see, that blonde at the bar, she’s the one.”
Did he mean that? A lot of men had said a lot of things to Jenna in her life, but for some reason she believed that Deacon meant that.
“So yeah, I thought when she’d need some time to heal and then I’d ask her out on a date.”
“Is that what happened?” Jenna smiled.
“No.” Deacon shook his head, his eyes widened slightly. “It turned outJenwas a lady in the streets…” He leaned forward and whispered in a low, raspy voice, his lips brushing against the cusp of her ear, sending a shiver through her body “…and afreakin the sheets.”
Jenna smiled even as her entire body lit up with arousal.
He straightened back up. “I thought I hit the lottery. I fell asleep with her in my arms planning what we’d have for breakfast, for the next day and then the rest of our lives…” He paused, dramatically. “But then, when I woke up, she was gone. No note, no thanks for the best sex of my life, no nothing. I thought I’d lost myone true loveforever.”
“Yourone true love?”
Deacon pointed to the boat, which was named One True Love, a departure from the Dawson’s Creek boat True Love. She was going to have a permanent smile on her face like the Joker if he kept this up.
“But thenfateintervened, and a year and a half later I was sitting at a bar in a small town. I got asked to be a part of a four person trivia team, and guess who my partner was?”
“Jen?”
“It was. I thought this is it.Thisis going to be the story we tell our grandkids?—”
“Grandkids?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I have a daughter, Tabitha and, Jen’s already a mom to this incredible teenager named Blake, who pretty much surprises and impresses me on a daily basis. But Jen did not see our reunion as a happy one. In fact, she wanted nothing to do with me, which, and I knowthisis going to shock you, has not been an issue in my life, so I was at a loss of what to do. I tried asking to talk, I tried over the top, I tried coming on strong and I even tried being her friend on the advice of a therapist who I found out earlier today turned out to be her ex-husband’s wife.”
She cringed for him. “Sorry about that.”
“Hazards of living in a small town.” Deacon shrugged it off, not seeming to bother him. “After all my efforts had failed I figured that the best thing to do was to just put my cards on the table, well, that combined with a grand romantic gesture, and see if that would tip the scales in my favor.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“I’ll let you know in about sixty seconds.”
“Sixty seconds?” Jenna’s heart started racing evenfaster than it already was, and it felt like it was already going about a thousand miles a minute.
“So here are my cards, I love you. I want to mar?—”
“You don’t know me,” Jenna finally blurted out, voicing the fear that had been eating at her this entire time. “I know it looks like I have my shit together, but that’s an act. I can get…obsessive about things. My mom was an addict. My dad was an addict. I haven’t ever had a real problem, but one of the reasons I’ve tried to stay away from you is because you are addictive to me. After the night we spent together, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I went back to the bar and sat outside for?—”
“Two weeks,” he cut her off. “I know.”
“How do you know?” Jenna put her hands over her face and spoke into her palms. “You were there?!”
“No, when I was talking to Cillian on the phone last week, he told me he saw you on the security cameras.”
“Oh my god, that’s worse!” She was humiliated.
“And I went and shared discreet, personal information with the ex-husband’s wife of the woman I want marry.” He pulled her hands down from her face. “And her ex-husband was in the back room and heard everything. I think we’re even on the humiliation front. And Cillian knows you’re not a stalker, I told him you didn’t even know my name and were probably just waiting to see if I showed up.”
“I was, that isexactlywhat I was doing,” she confirmed, still feeling the heat of embarrassment on her cheeks, neck, and chest.
“You do have your shit together, and lucky for you, Iwantyou to be addicted to me because I want to marry you. Also, you are very good at following orders, so if there ever seems to be a problem, I’ll just give you verystrict instructions to follow.” He brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and a shiver raced down her spine.
