Page 113 of Stay for Me
“God, who is pathetic now?” Sean asks with a laugh.
“Fuck off.”
“Dude, you were at my wedding not five months ago, talking about how stupid I was and how you were going to never be like us. Now look at you—whipped.”
Jacob shrugs as though he couldn’t care less. “I’m not whipped, brother. I’ve just found what you all have, and I’m happy.”
“Awww,” all the girls say at the same time.
“That’s so sweet,” Ellie adds on.
Devney slaps Sean’s chest. “You shouldn’t talk.”
“I never said I wasn’t whipped. I’m very happy to be in your clutches, sweetheart. There’s not another woman alive I’d rather be with.”
That seems to mollify her. “Good.”
“But I’m saying that Jacob was talking about having him committed if he was like us, and look . . . all it took was Brenna to show up with a casserole, and he was gone.”
Again, Jacob doesn’t seem fazed. “I’m not going to deny it.” He turns to me. “When I saw you, everything changed. I tried to deny it, but things that I thought made sense before—didn’t anymore. The dreams I thought were dead all came back.”
I brush my thumb along his lips. “You’re going to make me love you even more.”
“My goal is to make you love me so much that you can’t imagine a world without me.”
Little does he know I’m already there. I wake up thinking of him. I fall asleep wishing his arms were wrapped around me. During the day, I wonder where he is and if he’s thinking of me the way that I am about him.
I can’t remember the last conversation I had that didn’t include his name. And then there was earlier today.
When we stood in the woods, staring at each other and confessing how we felt. It was the most beautiful moment I’ve shared with a man.
Yes, my wedding was something, but it was two kids who weren’t sure if what they were doing was right. Luke proposed to me on my driveway three days after we found out we were pregnant. There was no beautiful or elaborate plan.
I can’t remember the first time we said we loved each other or if we meant it.
But there isn’t a doubt in my mind that I will never forget today.
I love him, and he loves me.
“Were we this gross?” Connor asks, breaking the moment.
Ellie sighs. “We sure were.”
“You still are!” Declan offers. “While the rest of us are just as ridiculously in love, we don’t go around, unable to keep our hands to ourselves.”
Sean chuckles. “Says the man who created the smolder.”
“The what?” Declan asks.
“The smolder. You get all broody and stare at Syd like she’s wood and you’re about to light her on fire.”
Declan turns to her. “Do I do that?”
“I mean, you definitely think I’m hot. But . . . I don’t know, look at me now like you want me to burn,” she teases.
He glares at her, and she looks away. “Didn’t work.”
Jacob stands. “I’d like to say we had a good time, but that would be overstating the time I’m forced to be around you people. Brenna, how about we head off?” He extends his hand to mine.
