“What do you want, Hope?” Jay nearly growled. “Do you want me to keep things professional? Do you want me to admit that the manuscript meant something? What do you want?”
“I don’t know what I want!” I said, lifting my hands and letting them fall back down in defeat. Because I didn’t. I was so confused, torn between doing what was right and giving in to what I actually wanted.
He shook his head, his eyes burning with an emotion Icouldn’t quite name. “I’m not going to tell you what to do. I made my move, and you pushed me away.”
I swallowed, my heart thundering in my chest.
“If you want something from me,” he said firmly, “you’re going to have to come over here and take it.”
Take it.
I shook my head. “Jay?—”
“I’m only going to say this once, so I make myself very clear.” His voice lowered, shifting to something more husky and guttural. The tone sent a shiver down my spine.
“I am absolutely and desperately falling in love with you.”
I stopped breathing.
“Every day I have to stop myself from grabbing you and kissing you senseless. Because everything means something, Hope.” He gestured to the house behind us. “The manuscript. The hotel. The way you talk and the way you breathe—it all means something to me.”
Was he really saying all of this? Surely I was dreaming.
“It’s impossible for menotto feel something for you. So I’m sorry if my feelings are bleeding into my actions, but that’s because I can barely contain them.” He reached up, his fist pressing against his chest. “So there’s the truth.”
I was stunned.
Speechless.
“Now that I’ve laid it all out for you, what do you want?”
I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again.
His confession still hung in the air, heavy and undeniable, and now there was no going back. He looked down, then back up at me, his hand clenching around the towel he was holding.
He waited.
“I’m falling for you too,” I finally said. The words echoed across the lake, nowhere to hide in the vast expanse around us.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t take a step toward me. He didn’t make any attempt to close the distance and kiss me senseless.
And if I were being honest, I’d expected him to. That was what always happened in the books I read, or the rom-coms I watched.
After a few seconds, he let out a sharp laugh, his navy eyes still glimmering with something dark and heated.
“I told you. If you want something,Amor, you’ll have to come over here and take it.”
He wasn’t going to make this easy for me.
I hesitated, just for a beat. But the challenge in his eyes was enough to spur me forward.
I closed the distance between us, rose onto my tiptoes, and threaded my fingers into his hair.
Then I pulled him down to me, and his mouth crashed into mine.
CHAPTER 48
