I nodded.
“There are a lot of things I like aboutyou, too, wife.”
“Like what?” I asked breathlessly as I lostmyself a little bit more in his eyes.
“Like that little birth mark you have onyour waist,” he murmured, his fingertips finding it in the dark as if he hadpainted it on there. “Like that little smile you always have on your lips whenyou are writing and you think no one is looking at you.”
There was a rude knock on the door andJason sighed.
“Do you know what else I learned today?”Jason asked conversationally as he pushed himself up with a sigh. “I learnedthat you texted me when I was eighteen, pretending to be someone else.”
I lost my breath and my smile melted off myface. “Wh-hat?”
“Interesting isn’t it? Because I certainlythought so. And you know what? Apparently I texted you back saying my friend’ssister was being sticky, or something like that.”
By then he had already gotten out of my bedand was standing over me as I held the covers in a death grip in my hands.
“You know why I can’t remember what myexact words were? Because—wait for it—it wasn’t me who wrote them. Hilarious,isn’t it?”
“What?” I repeated again. “What do youmean, it wasn’t you who wrote them?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? It was your lovingbrother trying to protect you from me. Or maybe the other way around, who knowswith him.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am sweetheart. I am.”
I threw the covers off and scrambled out ofmy bed. “I’m gonna kill him!”
I only managed to take two steps and thenJason pulled me back against his chest.
“Easy there tiger. We can kill himtogether, but first wear some pants so he won’t have a legitimate reason tokill me first.”
I turned in his arms, rose up on mytiptoes, and kissed him passionately until his hands were framing my face andtilting my head to the side. I could’ve easily fainted with the intensity ofit.
“I’m not sticky?” I asked once I could findthe willpower to stop.
“I loved you. You were my little one. Iwould never call you sticky. And…” He let go of my face and suddenly lifted meup in his arms. “Now that you are all grown up, I don’t mind you being stickyat all. In fact, I can’t wait to get you home so you can get sticky all overme, sweetheart.”
Epilogue
Jason
“Jason!” I lifted my head up and saw mywife running toward me.
My heart rate spiking up, I met herhalfway. “What’s wrong, Olive? What happened?”
She held her chest and tried to catch herbreath. “How could…how could you not tell me about…just a second, I think I’mhaving a heart attack.” She bent down and rested her hands on her knees.
I grabbed her shoulders and straightenedher back up. “Olive, talk to me, what’s wrong?” She waved her handdismissively. “Give me a minute, I’m angry at you.”
“What the hell for?”
“How could you not tell me that AdamConnor, the Adam Connor had moved in next door? Why did I hear it fromLucy instead of you? I trusted you, damn it!”
I blinked. “Sweetheart, I don’t keep tabson the neighbors. I didn’t know Adam was moving in next door any more than youdid.”
Her eyes widened slowly, making her lookcomical as she stared up at me. “You know him? You said Adam, like you actuallyknow him,” she whined. “You know Adam Connor?”