Chapter 23 #2
How dare he show up here at… 5:45 a.m. like he has a right to be here!
He had no right after what he’d done to her!
Enraged, she charged down two flights of stairs and out into the same pearly dawn light as the last time.
Like before, she wore only a thin tank and skimpy underwear.
And just like before, she went straight for the ripening tomatoes and started hurling them at him, one after the other.
Three in a row hit him—one on his back, another on the side of the head and the third, square in the ass.
Her heart might be broken, but there was nothing wrong with her aim.
He killed the engine and slowly turned to her, grinning like a loon.
She threw another tomato that splatted against his chest.
He began walking toward her with the kind of determination that had her taking a step backward because she was out of ammo. “Still not a morning person, huh?”
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here.”
“Why? It’s my job to cut your grass, so I’m cutting your grass.”
“You could’ve sent someone else. You should’ve done that.”
“Maybe so.” His gaze took a slow perusing journey from the top of her head to her chest, where he lingered for a moment before he continued on down.
He may as well have touched her, because he set her on fire with those dark-chocolate eyes that seemed to see right through her.
“Don’t come any closer.” Jenny wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad when he did as he was told and stopped with six feet between them. “Why are you here?”
“I told you. I came to cut the grass.”
“Why you and not someone else?”
“Because I couldn’t take the chance that one of the other guys might see you in that getup. You know how jealous I am.”
“You have no right to say that to me. Not anymore.”
“Yes, I do,” he said coming toward her again. Even with tomato remnants in his hair and stuck to his chest, he’d never looked better to her.
Self-preservation had her backing up until her back was against the mudroom door and he was standing a foot from her. Looking up at him, trying to gauge his mood and intentions, she licked her lips and ignited a flashpoint of desire in his eyes.
His mouth was on hers before she had a chance to react. Unlike last time, he didn’t give her the chance to say no. He simply took what he seemed to want urgently, if his ravenous kiss was any indication.
Jenny flattened her hands against his chest and pushed him back. “No,” she said, sputtering with outrage and despair. “You can’t do this to me. I won’t allow it. You sent me away like I meant nothing to you.”
“You never meant nothing to me. You meant too much. That was the problem.”
“Well, great. That makes me feel so much better.”
“I love you desperately. I’ve missed you more than I’ve ever missed anyone in my entire life. Every day I had to force myself to stay away from you when everything in me yearned for you.”
Okay, she had to admit that was some pretty good groveling. And it was a tremendous comfort to know he’d been every bit as miserable.
He focused on something over her shoulder.
“I was embarrassed. For the first time since my mother got sick, what she did… I was embarrassed by her.” He released a deep sigh.
“And I was furious with her. I’d never felt either of those things in all the time we’ve been dealing with her illness, but it wasn’t about me anymore.
It was about you and how it affected you.
So I figured if I pushed you away, I could protect you from getting hurt. ”
“Just FYI, that strategy totally backfired.”
“I know that now.”
“So what changed?”
“Nothing other than I’ve run out of willpower.
I guess I’m a selfish bastard after all, because I don’t care anymore if I’m being fair to you by bringing you into my chaotic life.
I don’t care if it’s fair that my mother basically called you a whore in front of your parents.
I don’t care about anything other than finding a way to spend as much of every day with you as I possibly can. ”
Jenny stared up at him, trying to decide if this was really happening or if she was having one of her vivid dreams.
And then he smiled, and she melted. “I’m just a guy, standing before a girl, asking her to love him.”
Jenny’s composure broke, and she stepped into his embrace. “She does love him every bit as desperately as he loves her.”
He hugged her so tightly she could barely breathe.
“I’m so sorry I freaked out. Once the dust settled and I realized how stupid I’d been, I drove everyone crazy until Paul begged me to come cut the grass and fix this with you, if I still could.
And he said to tell you he needs you at the store as badly as I need you in my bed. ”
Jenny raised a brow. “Was that a direct quote?”
“I paraphrased just a tiny bit.”
“I had a feeling,” she said, laughing. “Are you going to freak out again the next time your mom says something to me that she shouldn’t?”
“I’ll try not to, but even if I do freak out, I won’t push you away again. I promise you that.”
“You broke my heart.”
Wincing, he said, “I know. I hate myself for that. It was the last thing you deserved after you took such a big chance on me. I never want to cause you another second of pain.”
“Then don’t. Let me take this walk with you and hold your hand along the way and help you deal with whatever comes up the same way you will for me.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is simple. I love you. You love me. What else matters?”
“Nothing, I suppose. There’s apt to be more hand-holding on your part than there will be on mine.”
“We have no way to know that, do we?”
“All I know is I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to forgive me.”
“I forgave you a while ago, actually. What’s not to love about a man who puts his ailing mother ahead of everything else in his life?”
“What’s not to love about a woman who puts up with a man who thinks he can survive without her when he should’ve known better?”
“She does sound pretty awesome. You should come inside and make love with her so she’ll believe you mean all these pretty words you’re throwing at her.”
“Oh, I mean them, and I’d like nothing more, but can I borrow her shower first? I had a little trouble with some tomatoes.”
Jenny laughed and then squealed when he picked her up and swung her around. She held on tight to him until he put her down, took her hand and led her inside to begin the rest of their lives together.