Page 111 of Limbo

Oh, right.Iamdistracting him.

Refocused, I drag my teeth over my bottom lip and tug on the top of his jeans until he steps forward. I flatten my palms over the ridges of his abs and kiss my way up his warm chest. “Do you want me to stop?” I ask, more breathy than necessary. His muscles tense beneath my touch. I’m sliding my hands down again when he takes a deep breath.

“I love you.”

I sit upright, my entire body very, very cold. He said it. He actually fucking said it. And the scariest part is, I almost said it back.

Fuck.

Jordan steps back when I jump down. I flip on the light when I reach the door, and as much as I want to run, I go back the other way. For one, I’m in my bra, and two, I need to fix this. I need to figure out how to undo the last twenty seconds.

He stares at me while I pace the small space between him and the door.

“Take it back,” I tell him over my shoulder.

“I’m not taking it back.”

“Jordan”—before I run into the wall, I turn around—“I’m serious.”

“So am I,” he says. “I love you.”

“Stop saying that.” I head the other direction, grateful not to look at him for a few seconds because now his eyes are telling me, too. Everything about him is screaming it. “Why do you want to ruin everything between us?”

“Ruin? I told you I’m in love with you. Explain how it ruins anything.”

This time when I circle back, I stop in front of him and groan because he said it again. “Just because we love each other doesn’t mean we won’t destroy each other. I mean, my genetics alone almost guarantee mutual destruction.”

His eyebrows infinitesimally draw in. “Say that all one more time.”

“And now you’re not listening?”

Unbelievable.

His lips twitch. “Sorry, just say it again.”

Rather than repeat, I try to better explain, so he’ll understand. “Graham and Lauren loved each other, too. Then they ended up hating each other and made everyone around them miserable. Fuck, they still do,” I add.

At first, he says nothing. Then one side of his mouth perks up, and he steps toward me. I back up until I hit the wall next to the door.

“What are you doing?”

He ignores my question and brings a hand to my face. “For starters,” he says, pushing my hair back, “we’re nothing like your parents. We never will be.”

“How can you say that? We fight all the time.”

He shakes his head. “We sometimes bicker and discuss our strong differences in opinion. Which will continue because you challenge me more than anyone I’ve ever met. It frustrates the hell out of me, but it’s also the best damn feeling in the world.” He presses his lips to mine, his kiss fast and reassuring before he continues, “When we do fight, we never scream or throw things or make death threats. If we get too heated, we walk away and come back calmer. Ergo, we are not Graham and Lauren.”

“Jordan, you—”

“Exactly,” he says. “I am Jordan, and you are Callie. I can promise you, we will never be anyone else.”

I try to relax against him and tip my chin up to look at him. “Promise?”

“Promise.” He grazes his fingertips over my collarbone, and I sink even further into him. “Also, to bring you up to speed, you’ve said we love each other twice now. As in I love you, and you love me.”

I think through what I said, and a half-laugh, half-sigh slips out as I realize he’s technically right. “I did, didn’t I.”

I cover my face with a hand, but he pulls it away and kisses the backs of my fingers.

---