Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
He turned away. There was something guarded about his reaction, and after the things I’d told him all week, I didn’t blame him. “That’s very sweet, and I’m glad I’ve helped you,” he said. “I know you and I wouldn’t actually be together—in any world—but if you’re open to real love now, whoever it may end up being with… that’s great.”
“Why do you think that? That we wouldn’t ever be together?”
He looked down, giving me a shrug. “Because even in a world where you do want love, or a relationship, you also know we come from two different universes.” He met my eyes again, and this time, it looked like he’d given up hiding his truth. “Because you know you can do better.”
No.
No, no, no.
I leaned in and pressed my lips to his.
His lips were so warm. I clutched him close to me, sliding my hands under his jacket and holding his waist. He tasted like lavender from the cocktails, and when I really let myself admit it, I knew his body felt like some version of coming home.
I had to prove to him how wrong he was.
I was pretty sure I could never do better than Jamie.
I kissed him because I knew I would start crying again if I didn’t. I kissed him because it had been the only thing I’d wanted, all night, all day, all fucking week.
“Jamie,” I said before leaning in to kiss him again, wanting and needing more. “I have no idea if we’d date under other circumstances.” As I spoke, I punctuated every few words with another kiss, so hungry to be as close to him as I could. “And I have no idea if you’d even put up with my sorry ass in any circumstance. But I do know that you deserve the whole fucking world. You’re crazy to think I could ever do better than you.”
“You are way too nice to me,” he murmured as I kissed him along his jaw, pulling him even closer, so desperate for his warmth.
“Not even close.”
“Fuck, why do you have to feel so good?” he said, groaning. I moved him, stepping over toward the tall brick wall nearby. I pushed his body back up against the wall, kissing any part of his skin I could find.
“I don’t understand it,” I said, nuzzling against the crook of his neck. “Something just clicks, for me, when I’m with you.”
I leaned back, looking at his eyes, searching for any sign that he felt the same way.
“You’re…” he said, his words trailing off as he looked at me.
“Tell me the truth,” I said softly, squeezing his hips. “I can take it.”
“You’re in the snowglobe with me,” he finally said, his voice barely a whisper.
Something sparkled inside me. Something I couldn’t name.
“What?” I asked.
Jamie bit his bottom lip, suddenly looking the slightest bit bashful. “All week, I’ve felt like I’m… in my own little snowglobe. Like a dream. Something that’ll only exist here. And this is the first time I’ve been sure that you’re in it with me, too.”
I held his gaze. “I am. I’m right here with you.”
He nodded once. “I feel it, too.”
Something was blooming inside of me. After a year of emptiness, it was the strangest feeling—to actually feel like something new could grow inside me. New hopes, new dreams, and new possibilities.
“Come back with me to my room tonight,” I told Jamie. “I want to go back out there to the wedding with you, dance with you, feed you a fucking slice of cake or anything, and then I want you in my bed.”
My heart was thudding in my chest. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been truly, electrically nervous. Not dread, but pure, joyous excitement.
It felt like I waited a lifetime before Jamie replied. But I saw something shift in his eyes, like he knew I was laying it all on the line now. Like he knew he could trust me.
“I hope you know what you’re in for,” he told me, “because if you woo me with dancing and cake and sex and sleep I might even start to get a crush on you, Landry.”
My heart rocketed in my chest. Out of all the things Jamie had just said to me, and after all we’d done together this week, the word that stood out to me the most and sent me wild was an unexpected one.
Crush.
I wanted him to have a crush on me.
Like I was a damn teenager without a care in the world. My heart felt like it was cracking all over again, but this time in a good way.
More like it was coming out of a cocoon. Like it was transformed into something that could fly.
“I sure hope so,” I finally said.
Jamie’s lips were on mine a moment later. He kissed me without hesitation, his hands sliding along the front of my shirt. I ran my fingers through his soft hair, gripping the back of his head as he kissed me, his tongue a beacon of warmth in the cold air.