Page 40 of Guarded from Corruption

His jaw goes tight, and anger darkens his gaze. “Disappointing? You?”

“He thinks so. I try not to let it bother me. Most of the time it doesn’t. But…”

“Jade.” His voice gentles. “You are… that he’d even say… You’re amazing. You are the absolute opposite of disappointing.”

Niall stares down at me, a depth of emotion in his gaze. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that.” A pause, and he swallows hard. “Can I… can I just hold you? I think… I need to.”

A spark of warmth kindles inside me, chasing away some of the chill my father left behind. “You never have to ask that. The answer is always yes.”

“Ah, sweetheart.” Then he scoops me into his arms and carries me over to the couch, settling me down on his lap. Cuddling me to him, he presses quick, almost desperate kisses to the top of my head. “You’re incredible,” he murmurs between kisses. “I promise.”

I curl into Niall’s chest and tuck my head under his chin, letting my lips drift across his neck. Twining my arms around him, I hug him tightly, wishing there was a way to get even closer.

As we sit snuggled together, he rubs slow circles on my back and I can feel myself gradually relaxing.

After several minutes, or an hour—time somehow loses meaning—Niall shifts me in his lap and kisses me tenderly. “I mean it, Jade. I think everything about you is amazing. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be holding you like this.”

Oh. My heart gives an uneven thud, and the band around my chest releases. “I feel lucky, too. To be with you.”

“Jade.” He gazes at me with something deeper than affection. “I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy. And to make sure you always know how damn wonderful you are.”

Joy fizzes up again, leaving me breathless.

No man has ever made me feel like this before. I’m not sure anyone but Niall could.

A small smile tugs at my lips. “I think you’re pretty darn wonderful, too.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

NIALL

“I don’t think they’re supposed to look like that?”

Jade leans against my arm, resting her head on my shoulder. Laughter laces her tone as she asks, “I think they’re supposed to be… fluffier?”

I loop my arm around her and press a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Are you saying these don’t look like the ones online?”

“Well.” She tilts her head to look up at me with sparkling eyes. “Not quite.” Her lips twitch. “But I’m sure they taste delicious.”

Eyeballing the sad-looking attempts at crepes in the frying pan, I grimace. Somehow I’ve managed to make them soggy and charred at the same time, and they look about as appealing as wet cardboard. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“It’s okay.” Holding onto my arm for balance, Jade stretches up to kiss my cheek. “We’ll just cover them with lots of whipped cream. And fruit. They’ll taste fine.”

“Ah, no, hun.” A chuckle rumbles in my chest. “I’m not letting you eat these terrible things. You’ll get sick.” I turn off the burner and set the pan to the side. “I’ll make pancakes. Or I can run into town to get donuts, if you want.”

Her brow furrows as she inspects the failed crepes. “I thought it would be like making pancakes. But it’s a lot harder.” After a beat, she laughs. “Oh well. Now we know.”

It was my idea to try making crepes for breakfast. I thought it would be nice to surprise Jade with something different; I had this image in my head of making a fancy meal with cut fruit and crepes and freshly-squeezed orange juice. I’d set the table with flowers and it would be like eating at a restaurant instead of just sitting at the kitchen island like we do every other day.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot the last few days—how to make things special for Jade. If things were normal, we’d go on dates and I could treat her the way she deserves. We’d visit her favorite restaurants and explore Seguin, which is the closest town to us, looking for hidden gems to make our own. We’d take weekend trips when I’m not on a job and make plans to visit Shea and my friends back in New York.

Is it too soon to be making such ambitious plans given that we haven’t been dating for long? Especially when Jade has so much other stuff she’s dealing with?

Maybe. But my gut tells me this is it.

Jade’s held a piece of my heart for over a decade. She’s special. I’ve never found another woman who even came close to her. And now that I have a taste of life with Jade, I can’t see myself with anyone else.

So I’m letting myself think about a future with her, and I’ll wait as long as it takes for her to be ready.

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