Page 93 of Surrender

“This is…” I clear my throat. “Thank you. I love it.”

“It’s silly, I know. I just thought it was cute and wanted to get something for you.”

It slams into me then that she doesn’t even know. She doesn’t get what it means to be damaged goods and have someone like her, light and beauty and kindness, pick out a gift with a meaning behind it. It doesn’t matter that it’s small. It’s personal. She put thought into it.

She thought about me.

Clarity empties my mind like the clouds leaving after a violent storm. The key chain and box clatter to the floor as I surge toward her, bury my fingers into the hair on the back of her head, and kiss her.

God, I fucking kiss her.

If I didn’t have to come up for air, I never would. I’d bury myself in her and drown. I’d live off the taste of her lips. Instead, I pour myself into the kiss. I nip at her lips and soothe them with my tongue, and I taste her. I swallow down her gasps and her moans.

She presses against me, reacting to my desperation, so I haul her into my lap. Her thighs part, and she straddles my hips, settling her center above my aching cock. My hands squeeze her waist, tracing her curves lower until I can press her flush against me. All the while, I keep kissing her. Deepening it.

I drag my fingers along her scalp, causing her to shudder in my arms. She wrenches from my mouth with a stuttered gasp, and I guide her forehead to rest against mine. We breathe against each other.

“It was just a key chain,” she pants.

And all my secrets tumble out on a handful of clunky words.

“I’m falling in love with you.” I practically yell them at her.

“Wh-what?”

I swallow hard and tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want there to be any decisions between us without you knowing that somewhere along the last couple of weeks, I started to fall in love with you and the kids. And if you want to stick around and see where this might go, I’m all for it.”

Her eyes widen at my confession. Dainty fingertips come to rest on my stubbled cheeks. I feel as if she sees straight inside my soul.

“You’re a big softy in there, aren’t you?”

I gaze at her with a serious expression. My heart thunders on the edge of a catastrophic fall. “You bring it out in me.”

“I’m falling for you too.”

“No kidding?”

A disbelieving laugh flies from her mouth. “No, I’m not kidding!”

I release a strangled huff. “You’ll have to excuse me for not being cooler at this moment, but I need you to say it again.”

She strokes my cheek. “I’m falling in love with you.”

I take her lips again, breathing in the heavenly words spilling from her.

We break apart after a few minutes.

“I have something for you too.” I keep her in my lap and dig beneath the tree to pull out her gift. “I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but since you already gave me mine, it’s only fair you open it now.”

She sits back, her ass to my thighs. She rotates the flat square in her hands. “I’d berate you for going out of your way to get me something after you’ve already done so much, but you just said you might someday love me so...”

“You’re starting to get it.”

“What’s that?”

But I don’t answer. She’ll just have to keep experiencing it to figure it out. I watch as she tears through the gold wrapping paper. The ripped pieces flutter to the ground.

“Jack.”

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