Page 99 of Damaged

“I’m fine. I’m just a scaredy cat. I like being alone. And nighttime. And the forest. But throw those three together, and I can piss myself at a pin drop.”

“You watch too many movies. Nobody gets ax murdered anymore. Or satanically sacrificed,” he teases as he wraps me in a hug.

“You could’ve texted.”

“I thought I did. I was on the plane. It didn’t deliver. Think of this as a surprise.”

His smile evaporates the rest of the fear from my blood.

James swoops me up, and I shriek until he levels me so we’re face-to-face. “I missed you,” he says.

“And here I thought you might be gone for a day or two.”

“I couldn’t stay away,” James says, and we kiss. “I have something for you, by the way.”

“What?

“Here.” He walks me over to the kitchen island, picks me up, and sets me on the countertop. I just shake my head at how easily he moves me around. He digs in his coat’s big pockets and pulls out a black velvet box.

Jewelry.

“James.” I hold a hand out like it’s too much, but when he smiles and opens the box, my mouth slackens.

It’s a pendant.

The necklace is white gold and glitters like fresh snow. But that’s not what shocks me. An aquamarine sapphire sits in its center. It shines brilliantly. Sparkling like the sunlit sea.

It’s the kind of jewelry I’ve only seen in display cases in the fanciest stores of the city.

The kind of necklace I’ll see in passing but not even care to ogle, because whatever life it would be where I wear it is so far, so unimaginable, from my own.

“James, it’s…”

“Before I can give it to you, I feel like I need to make one thing clear,” he says.

I gulp, worried at what he’s about to say.

“I’m not saying it comes first, but my business can’t take a back seat because of this relationship. I need to keep managing. Growing. I can’t just go into the woods.”

Relationship.We’re going to date.

“James, I would never expect you to give everything up for me. Or have to. We can make it work.”

“It’s a lot to keep this company at full speed. It takes… a lot of my time.”

“I’m a flexible girl,” I say, partly in reference to him making a pretzel out of me.

He grins and walks closer. He puts both hands on the sides of my shirt just above my ribs. “Arms up.”

I listen to him as he pulls off my black tee and balls it up. My breath quickens. He tosses the shirt and picks up the pendant. It’s warm in the house, but the gold is cold from being in his coat, and it raises goose bumps on my bare skin as he puts it around my neck.

He hooks the clasp and takes a few steps back. His eyes shine with so much joy, I almost think the gift was for him.

“You look incredible.”

I look down at the stone. I’ve never had somebody get me something this nice. With Jake, his gifts were always in the realm of scarves or candles. I’m truly speechless.

I know one language he’d appreciate.

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