Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Malcolm?” she cried. Her mind must be playing tricks.
“Josie!” He looked as stunned as she felt.
“What are you doing here?” they both said at the same time.
“Coming to find you.” Again, they spoke in unison.
She shook her head. “Let me go first. Otherwise, I’m afraid I might never get the chance to say what I need to say to you.”
* * *
He stared into her eyes, drinking in the sight of her. The luminosity of her skin, the fullness of her lips. Every last inch of her was so beautiful. He nodded, and she took a deep breath, so deep that he could practically feel it in his own chest.
“I wasn’t honest with you earlier,” she said. “I didn’t tell you the truth about how much I wished you would stay. I don’t want a year of long-distance. There’s already been so much time lost for us, all those years between high school and now. And I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I love you with everything I am, with everything I was and will be. I love you for your past, your present, and your future. And I want so badly to be able to see you every morning and every night. To let our love continue to deepen. To learn everything there is to know about you, from your childhood to the things that you’re proud of as an adult, and even the things that you’re not. I can’t stand the thought of you resenting me for pulling you away from a world and a deal that has always meant so much to you, but I have to be honest. I love you, and please, don’t go to New Zealand for a year. Please stay in England. Be my boyfriend. My proper relationship. And I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll never let you regret it.”
At last, she seemed to run out of breath. As soon as she did, he had to kiss her. Had to capture her beautiful mouth, had to draw her lovely body against his and hold her tight. He kissed her as though it had been a year instead of a few hours since the last time.
Finally, he drew back to look into her eyes. “Do you know what I just did? I handed the deal over to Genevieve. It’s hers now, and she’s willing to stay in New Zealand for a year.”
Josie’s eyes widened. “But what if the CEO won’t take the trade and insists on you?”
“I’m pretty sure Genevieve can handle him. And if not?” He stopped to imagine losing House in a Box. And he knew. “I really don’t care.”
“I’m so glad.”
“I should never have said yes to it. You and what we’re building between us mean so much more to me than any business deal ever could. The only project I’m interested in right now is you and me together, in London, as a proper couple.”
“You’re doing that for me?”
“For us. You don’t know how much I admire you for coming here and being so honest. Honest in a way that I have not been with anyone since I was seventeen. I’ve always been too afraid of how they might respond to the truth inside me. To my fears. To my weaknesses. But you, Josie—you’re not afraid of anything. I look at you and I know this is such a big part of why I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. Because you’re so damned brave. And yet, your heart is right there on your sleeve for everyone to see. I want to learn from you. Maybe after twenty or thirty years with you, I will no longer be afraid to be who I really am.”
“You’re amazing,” she told him. “And you have never given yourself enough credit for that. The way your family loves you—that’s not just because of blood ties. It’s because of the man you are. And I hope it doesn’t take twenty or thirty years for me to convince you that you are lovable exactly as you are.”
This time, she was the one kissing him. Stealing his breath in the same way that she had completely stolen his heart.
“I love you, Josie. And I promise you I won’t ever do this to you again. I won’t run, even if everything inside of me is telling me that it’s the safest thing to do. I’m going to count on you to help me face and deal with that voice inside me that tells me it’s too risky to love. That it’s too dangerous to devote myself to something I’m passionate about. And to know that it will be okay if something ever hurts me the way my father was hurt all those years ago.”
“Anything you need from me, I want to give to you. And just like you, I know you will always support me when that little voice inside my head tries to tell me that I’m not good enough. That I’m not special enough.”