Chapter 14 #2
“I’d like to see you try,” she countered, taunting him, but his words shot a thrill down her spine that was soon followed by a surge of awareness as he hung up the phone without another word to her.
As she pulled the phone away from her ear, her breath caught in her throat, seeing his shadowy form outlined by the sconce light behind him.
He moved to the end of the wraparound front porch – and leaped over the railing with one smooth move, landing in the grass.
He walked slowly toward her, not looking away.
The man was purposeful, that movement powerful, like he was coming to claim his woman… her.
“Holy cow,” she breathed in the silence of her car, her pulse fluttering, “that’s so hot…” and then opened the door to get out so she could face him. As she stood, he was coming around the front of her car, his whole demeanor intense… and she needed to play it off before she made a fool of herself.
Her knees were already on the verge of buckling.
“I was just joking,” she began as he grasped the car door with one hand, tugging her by the arm with the other so she was clear as he shut it pointedly, looking at her.
“I wasn’t,” he shot back, his voice thick and deep.
“Ohh…” she melted – and then gasped as he suddenly swung his baseball cap around, putting the brim toward the back, before leaning down to scoop her over his shoulder.
“Hey now! Wait a second!” she yelped nervously, grabbing a fistful of his shirt with one hand and his belt with the other, hanging on for dear life.
“Shhh, Sweetheart,” he chuckled and swatted her gently on the butt. “Stop that, or you’ll have Mimi coming to check on you.”
“Put me down.”
“Nahhh,” he replied simply, turning to walk back across the grass toward his house. “I’m kinda liking this personally.”
“You’re acting like a caveman…”
“My ancestors had the right idea,” he replied – and then swatted her again. “Great view, puts you exactly where I told you to go, and makes me feel like a man… what about you?”
“What about me?” she retorted. “I’m upside down.”
“Yes, you are – but don’t you see any merits to having your man do something crazy and romantic like this?” he asked, and something about his voice caught her attention. He was trying to be romantic, and she was ruining it with all her insecurities.
He never complained about her weight, never commented on her appearance, never badgered her to try harder to please him – nothing – not like Joe used to do.
This was a whole new experience for her, to have someone who accepted and wanted her, just as she was…
and it was incredible that it happened to be the same man who was stealing her heart away with words and deeds.
“Hmm,” she began, hearing the clomp of his boots on the wooden porch steps as he carried her up to the front door.
“Great view,” she repeated his words – and slapped the pocket of his jeans playfully before grasping at his shirt once more to hang on.
A rumble of laughter escaped him – and it sent a wave of happiness through her soul, knowing she caused it.
“And makes me feel like a woman,” she admitted, holding back the part about his shoulder digging into her gut.
What was a little discomfort compared to the rest?
As he walked into the house, a smell wafted in the air that made her do a double-take. Planting one hand against his lower back, she pushed up and away from him, looking around – and sniffing. Something smelled… delicious!
“What is that?” she asked pointedly. “Do I smell… pot roast?”
His only answer was a chuckle – and his hand removed one of her shoes, letting it drop to the ground, before pulling off the other one.
Again, how could she complain about any of this?
Just got off work – check…
He swept her off her feet literally – check…
Her man made her dinner – check, check, and double-check.
“Hellooo?” she called out, chuckling. “You can put me down now.”
“I’m enjoying this.”
“Then do it again someday,” she replied, smiling. “I’m starving, and something smells absolutely divine. I thought you said you couldn’t cook?”
He carefully maneuvered, kneeling slightly to let her down without dragging her torso over his shoulder in the process.
Her toes touched the ground as he moved back slightly before straightening up.
Okay, maybe having your boyfriend do a fireman-carry on you should be on every girl’s bucket list in life, because yeah, that definitely checked off a box on her ‘I-didn’t-know-I-needed-that’ list of life lessons.
“I don’t,” he chuckled tenderly, taking her hand by touching his fingers to hers, before lacing them together. “But I can follow directions – plus I bought a Crock-Pot that came with a recipe book.”
“You bought a Crock-Pot?” she smiled, looking up at him.
He was so beautiful, so breathtakingly perfect, and it blew her mind how she could have ever thought differently only a few weeks ago.
My, how her life had changed so much – and for the better.
His soft hazel eyes were so warm, so gentle, and felt like home.
His dark hair had a few curls sticking out under the brim of his hat that made her itch to run her fingers through them.
He was so far from the man she imagined herself with – and exactly like the man she could see spending forever with.
“Look at you all domesticated, Officer Chance,” she said softly, flirting with him.
“I’m trying to impress my girlfriend,” he admitted – and heck, if she wasn’t a pool of mush before?
She was now.
“It’s working,” she whispered. “I’m very impressed by everything before me.”
Jack tugged her hand slightly, pulling her toward him.
There was zero fight, zero resistance in her at the movement.
She stepped closer, smelled the slightly woodsy scent mixed with the fragrant roast in the distance – and then glanced over his shoulder as something caught her eye.
He’d set up a table in the front foyer that they’d painted together.
It was dressed beautifully with a tablecloth, two glass jar candles flickered, and a bouquet of flowers was in a vase waiting.
He wasn’t just impressing her, but knocking her socks clear off and breaking the mold for any other men in the future.
There would never be another Jack.
Her eyes slid back to his. That recognition of home, of perfection, was so powerful it was staggering.
Her lips parted as she looked up at him, the feelings so strong that it knocked her speechless…
but as the side of his lip curled on one side, she realized words weren’t necessary.
His smile faded as his eyes grew hooded, his head dipped slightly as her heart skipped a beat – or maybe three of them.
She turned her head up toward him, unable and unwilling to fight any of this any longer.
This feeling was like a rush unlike anything she’d ever felt before, and she embraced it with every bit of her heart and soul.
This is what happiness was: a sense of belonging, and if a cataclysmic event happened in this very moment, her feet would be rooted in place for all time.
His head dipped a little lower, and she smiled slightly, never having paid attention to the fact that she barely came to his chin. He pulled back slightly, hesitating, and paused. “What?”
“Nothing,” she whispered between them. “I like this.”
“Trust me - it gets so much better from here,” his own voice a hushed promise, and she believed him as his breath mingled with her own.
Both of them were taking short, stilted breaths, and it felt like it was dragging on forever instead of just a brief second or two.
This wasn’t a rushed kiss, but rather a recognition between the two of them… and he was savoring it.
Jack was savoring their first kiss, her brain screamed in awareness and comprehension.
If her brain, heart, and soul were actual characters sitting in a movie theater beside each other watching the show unfold – Brain would be throwing popcorn at the other two to get their attention at what was happening.
Oh yes, Brain would be whistling like Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie, spotting it immediately…
whereas Heart would have a wobbly lip, drinking in the sweetness of this kiss – and Soul?
Soul was on the edge of her seat, leaning forward, smiling, as tears of relief and recognition streamed down her face.
Heidi’s own eyes stung, too.
His lower lip finally brushed against her upper lip in the softest of caresses as he dropped a tender kiss there before lifting them to kiss her again.
He pressed them again, brief and gentle, creating an aching and longing for more that mixed with an unfurling within her chest. Her fingers loosened from his hand and immediately took purchase against his shirt front, her fingers slowly climbing instinctively, craving more from him.
His hand moved to the curve of her back, pulling her to him…
and in that single motion, it wasn’t just her falling under his spell.
They were both goners.
Jack’s lips finally slid across hers, claiming hers.
She could taste him, feel the warmth of his body standing so close to hers, craving that comfort with every fiber of her being as they simply stood there, kissing.
He wasn’t pushy or aggressive, but coaxed her silently into meeting him, kiss for kiss.
Her eyes stung with unshed tears at the beauty of this, the perfection, the understanding that she could never tear herself from this place, this feeling, or this man…
and as the kiss ended, the sensations did not.
He stood there, holding her close, dropping soft kisses against her cheek, forehead, and nose as they just held each other, their arms locked around each other.
It was like two lost and lonely beings, two different yet perfect pieces of some puzzle, had, by sheer fate, found and recognized that they fit together.
Neither said a word, both speechless, and clinging to the other, adrift in this unspoken feeling of wholeness… and beginnings of love.
A small timer buzzed in the other room, a few minutes later, breaking the interlude as he chuckled.
“What was that?” she whispered, her head lying on his shoulder as he dropped another soft kiss at her temple.
“Laundry,” he answered simply. “Your man does his own laundry, and I think I heard your stomach growl. Are you ready to eat?”
“Do you really need to keep bragging about how wonderful you are?” she teased as they both laughed softly, still holding each other close.
“I’m just trying to make sure I’m irreplaceable,” he whispered against her hair as she buried her head against his neck – and nodded. He kissed her forehead lightly once more before whispering a fragile truth. “You are, you know… and I’m glad you’re mine.”
Looking up into his beloved eyes, she saw heaven.
“I’m so glad you’re mine too,” she spoke the words aloud – ones she never thought she’d admit ever again. “Don’t ever let me go.”
“Never,” he promised.