Page 28 of Imagine Me and You

Yeah. So that was probably love.

Dammit again.

He got out of bed, leaving Sam there, soft and sleepy and so sexy. If he didn’t move away from her he was going to jump her, and until they talked he didn’t feel comfortable doing that.

He crossed the gray room, the sun still not up over the mountains, and went into the bathroom, turning on the water and waiting for it to warm up before stepping under the shower head.

Love.

How had it come to this? He wanted to tell her. And he wanted to hide it forever. Or at least until he figured out what he could do with it. What it meant for him. For them.

He pushed water back from his face, sliding his hands over his hair, leaning back against the hard tile. Love was elating and terrifying. Like a roller coaster. The climb to the peak was incredible, the free fall after...in Sam’s arms...amazing.

It was the blind corners that were killing him. They’d survived everything behind them, sure, but he had no idea what was up ahead.

The door to the shower opened and he turned. Sam was standing there, naked and biting her lip, looking nervous and beautiful, so damn perfect it hurt.

“Mind if I come in?” she asked.

“Please,” he said, his voice rough, not like his own at all.

She did, closing the door behind her, the moisture in the air clinging to her hair, which was completely wrecked aftertheir activities last night. She wrapped her arms around her midsection, the action pushing her breasts up and together.

And he could only stare.

Had she always beenthisbeautiful? How the hell had he survived looking at her for the past fourteen years without his head, or other parts, exploding?

Not the most romantic thought. But honest.

Right now though, it wasn’t just his cock that was on the verge of serious injury. It was his heart. It felt like a fist was squeezing it so tight that his chest might cave in due to the pressure.

She didn’t make a move to touch him, but she was here, in the shower with him, so that had to mean something.

“So, I was thinking,” she said, her voice soft.

“Sounds dangerous.”

“Does it?”

He shrugged, feeling a little like an asshole for trying to have a conversation while standing in front of her with an erection that was advertising the true contents of his thoughts. “I’m having trouble doing any real thinking right now.”

She looked down. “Yeah. Well...I can see that.”

“Sorry.” He wasn’t. Not really. She was there and naked. And he was crazy about her. If he was lucky enough to see her naked every day of his life for the next sixty years, she would probably always make him hard. That was just the simple truth.

“I was just thinking that...that there’s no going back, Jace,” she said. The way she said it made him feel cold. Like he was sure he wouldn’t like the next words out of her mouth. “I can’t forget last night or what happened before that. The only solution is to...is to keep going until we come out the other side. That makes sense, right?”

“I suppose,” he said. Except he was right—he didn’t like what she was saying. What she was saying made it sound like theywere lost in the forest, muddling around, groping and falling into each other’s naked bodies. But not to worry—they would find the other side eventually and all the groping could stop.

And that wasn’t how he felt. He didn’t feel lost. He finally felt like he’d found himself.

“While I’m living here...Jace, this tension isn’t going to let up while I’m here. There’s no freaking way. We’ve seen each other naked. We’ve...y’know, and we’ll be sleeping down the hall from each other and...it’s not going to work.”

“I agree.” Kind of.

“So, I think...as long as we want it, let’s have it. While it feels right, we do it. And when it doesn’t...we’ll stop and never look back.”

“Can you do that?” he asked, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him.