Page 90 of When We Are Complete

As we pull back from the kiss, his gaze searches mine, and he takes a steadying breath, his thumb brushing over my cheek. “Do you remember that night under the lighthouse? A couple of weeks before we broke up.”

The memory surfaces as if it happened yesterday. “How could I forget?”

His mouth quirks, almost wistful. “The stars, the waves… and that song playing.Rolling in the Deep,right?”

The mention of it sends a rush through me. “Yeah. It was perfect. Felt as though the world was ours for a while.”

Something deeper, sadder takes over. “You know, that was one of the best nights of my life. Nothing could touch us.” He lets out a quiet breath, his gaze slipping away for a moment. “After everything imploded—Jenny showing up pregnant, my whole world getting turned upside down. I felt as though I’d lost something I could never get back. When the baby came, naming her Adele was my way of holding on to it. To you. To that night and the life we thought we’d have.”

A rush of emotion fills my chest, so strong I almost can’t breathe. All this time, all these years, I had no idea. I reach up, my fingers brushing his jaw. “Jake—”

But he just shakes his head, his hand covering mine. “I’m sorry about everything that happened, not giving us a chance.But I never let go of it. Never let go of you. And I want to spend the rest of my life making up for it.”

Chapter 52

Kelly

Jake’s wordsfade and I swallow the lump in my throat, the dim light from the lighthouse casting shadows across his strong features.

“Jake,” I whisper, my voice barely there, my heart thudding so loud it could drown out the storm outside. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

The words leave my mouth, soft and true, and he pulls me close, his kisses pressing into my hair, my cheeks. He’s mapping out every part of me, committing this moment to memory. The space between us evaporates, and my lips find his in a desperate kiss that tastes of hope and home.

“I love you too,” he says between kisses. “Every stubborn bone in your gorgeous body.” EachI love youis a thread weaving us back together, one by one, until there’s no space left between us.

His arms encircle me, pulling me closer until I’m perched on his lap. Heat spools through me, radiating from where ourbodies meet. The kiss deepens, and the solid length of him presses against me, igniting a fire that makes me forget about the icy chill of the blizzard outside.

“God, Kel,” he murmurs against my lips, his breath hot and ragged. “I just fucking love you.”

“Me too,” I sigh back, tangling my fingers in his dark hair. There’s a hunger in the way his mouth moves with mine, a yearning that mirrors my own.

Right now, it’s just us—the storm howling its lonely song outside, while inside, we’re catching fire. The world beyond Harbor’s Edge fades away. It’s just Jake and me, and the promise of love in a town that's seen its share of pain, but also its share of second chances, of hope. We’re finally finding one another, the real us, a perfect spring after a long, harsh winter.

Jake’s hands move up and under the layers of my clothing. He nudges my bra aside, cups my breasts, his touch pebbling my nipples, sending sparks across my skin. His tongue dances with mine, a slanting pressure that’s both insistent and tender.

“Is this okay?” he says against my mouth. “We’ve had a big day. I don’t want to rush you.”

“More than,” I whisper back, my voice catching on a thread of emotion. There’s no room for anything here other than Jake’s hands moving over the terrain of my body.

I find the hem of his sweater, his shirt, pulling them upward, the taut muscles of his abdomen beneath my fingers. We break apart just enough to pull our clothes off, shedding the fabric, an unbearable barrier, our movements clumsy and eager, like it’s our first time all over again.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he murmurs, his gaze tracing over me with such intensity.

He grabs the blanket on the floor and spreads it out. It’s not a neatly made bed, but there’s something about this moment that’s perfect as he guides me down onto the soft fabric, thestorm raging just outside. The kiss that follows is a slow burn, melting the frost from my soul. I taste the remnants of the blizzard in the coolness of his lips.

“Kelly,” he says, his voice thick with emotion, and he senses it too—the mending, the healing. The lighthouse may be small, but at this moment, it’s our world, vast and infinite.

“Jake.” My heart speaks his name, my fingers tracing the lines of his face, memorizing the shape of his jaw, his nose.

His mouth moves down my body, the heat of it on my breasts, my stomach, his tongue moving between my legs before working slowly at my clit. Heat rolls through me, and he brings me to the edge and then over so fast, I’m breathless.

He kisses his way back up my body and I reach down, gripping his hard shaft, stroking him, arching my back because I need him inside meright now.

“Do you think we’re the first to do it up here?” A wicked grin crosses his face.

“I bet we’re not.”

As Jake positions himself, the solid length of him presses against the wet heat of me. He meets my eyes with a look so intense it could ignite the very air between us. I breathe out, barely able to contain the anticipation coiling inside me.

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