Page 35 of Love Takes Home

“Because I think it’s been a really long time since someone pointed out that every inch of you is perfection. And this area my hands are on right now? Turns me the fuck on.” He emphasizes his point my pressing into my lower back, his hard cock making an appearance. “It means you enjoy food. There’s not a fucking thing wrong with that. It means you live, Virginia. It’s a soft place to lay my head when we’re in bed on a Saturday afternoon while you play with my hair. That’s a fantasy, Beautiful.” He slides his hands across my belly to my hips, gripping them andpulling me back against him. “These? Woman, you have no idea what a fucking goddess you are when you release these hips. Men drool over you when you walk. The sway is hypnotic.”

With no ceremony, he undoes the button on my jeans and kneels behind me to pull them down my legs. I step out of them, acutely aware his face is at ass level and I’m standing here in just my bra and underwear. I feel completely exposed, and the tears are freely falling now.

“One more comment. For now.”

“What?” I say through building sobs.

“Your legs. God, Ginny. Your legs are the things of men’s fantasies. Thick, strong. Something to hold on to while feasting on you. While fucking you. Worshiping you.”

These words never would have come out of Keith’s mouth. Feasting? No one has ever done that to me, and Keith certainly wasn’t going to. It was my job to pleasure him, not his job to pleasure me. But none of that matters. Joker is saying things that aren’t reality. I know what I look like. I know I’m not a fantasy. I appreciate what he’s trying to do, but I don’t appreciate the lies.

“Why are you lying?”

“I’m not.” No argument, just a simple admission of his truth.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know. But I’ll show you. I’ll prove it to you with my actions until you do.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you get it? I’ve been falling in love with you for over two years. But you can’t accept that until you love yourself. And you can’t do that until you get all the nastiness planted in your brain by dickless assholes out.”

“I…you…wait. You’ve been falling in love with me?”

“I have. But you were with someone I thought made you happy. And that’s all I want. For you to be happy. One day, Ihope you see that you could do that with me. That I’ll spend all my days making you happy, because I want nothing more than to see you achieve your dreams.”

Here I am, standing in front of a man who is such a ten, in my bra and panties no less, listening to him declare his love and intentions to me. This man, who protects those close to him, who silently takes care of things, telling me—ME—that he thinks I’m perfect. I turn around, facing him, no glass protecting me, and I step into his waiting arms.

“I think I’ve been in love with you, too. I just never thought it was a possibility.”

“Anything is possible if you want it bad enough.” He smirks.

I roll my eyes and laugh.

“What do you want, Beautiful?”

I stare into his eyes. Open and happy. Inviting me in. What do I want?

“I really want you to kiss me,” I confess.

“That I can do.”

He releases his hold on me, only to cup my face, his thumbs caressing my cheeks. When his lips meet mine, I’m here for it. My entire body lights up, electricity zinging from head to toe. When his tongue slips along the seam of my lips, I feel like my knees will give out, but he’s got me. Right when I’m debating my ability to climb his body like a tree, he pulls back.

“We have to stop, Beautiful. It’s late, and we need to get you to bed. You’ve had a long day, and I don’t want anything we do to be followed by regrets.”

“I won’t regret it.”

He shakes his head, and there’s a pang of rejection, but before it can fully form, he reaches out and tucks my hair behind my ear. Leaning in, he kisses my cheek before whispering,

“If you still want this in the morning, I’m all yours. But know that there’s no turning back. If we take this step, there is no you and there is no me. Just us. Together.”

I stare at him, dumbfounded. Did he just…? All I get from him is a smile as he opens the bathroom door and leads me down the hall to the spare bedroom. He pulls the covers back for me and gives me a shirt. It’s another soft shirt that smells like him when I pull it over my head. Once I’m covered, he pulls me into his arms and holds me tight.

“As much as I want to keep you by my side tonight, this is for the best. Think on everything. I meant what I said.”

He steps back and turns to the door.

---