Page 90 of Booked on a Feeling

“This way.” She gently tugged his hand and led him to a love seat between two bookshelves. “Is this good?”

“It’s perfect,” he said.

They sat down still holding hands—she decided to take it as a good sign—and the worn springs on the sofa dipped to bring them closer together. It suddenly felt surreal that Jack was sitting beside her. Before she could stop herself, she ran her fingers down his cheek to make sure that he was really there. He was real and warm, and… he leaned into her touch. It was all she could do to stop herself from kissing him.

“Tell me about you. What have you been doing?” He looked intently at her as though his life depended on her answer.

“You must’ve heard from your parents that I left Weldon after a few weeks with them.”

He nodded.

“I came back to LA because I finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life.”

He sat so still she wasn’t sure if he was breathing.

“Welcome to my bookstore, Jack.” She got straight to the point. They could talk later about how it all happened. For the time being, she wanted to make sure he resumed breathing.

His eyes rounded, and his mouth dropped open. “Your bookstore?”

“Yes, mine,” Lizzy said with pride filling her heart. “When I took time to dig deep, I found my childhood dream exactly where I’d left it.”

“This… this is what you want?”

“Yes, this is what I want.” She smiled softly, confident in knowing exactly what she wanted in life—this bookstore and Jack.

“I thought you hated LA.” His eyes darted around her face.

“It wasn’t LA that I hated,” she explained. “I hated being an attorney. It was suffocating my soul.”

“God, Lizzy. I’m so sorry.” He squeezed her hand and swept his thumb across her knuckles.

A shiver of awareness traveled down her back even as his sympathy warmed her heart. “That’s okay. I know where I belong now.”

“But… you love Weldon.”

“It isn’t Weldon that I love.” She breathed in deep. She promised herself she wouldn’t let anything stop her from holding onto him once he walked back into her life.Cannonball.“I love you. I don’t care where I live as long as I’m with you. You’re my home, Jack.”

Relief, wonder, and joy swam across his face in quick succession before he lunged for her. The force of his kiss pushed her against the arm of the sofa. She didn’t mind. She kissed him back with as much desperation and hunger, tugging him closer. But he suddenly set her away from him.

“What the hell, Jack?” She tried to pull him back, but he held her away by her arms. She growled like a feral animal.

He tilted his head back and laughed. He looked so happy that she decided to stop snarling at him. When he looked at her again, there was laughter in his eyes and something else… a tenderness that made her heart wrench.

“I love you, Elizabeth Chung,” he said, his voice deep and resonant.

Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks. “But you said your feelings weren’t involved.”

“That wasthebiggest lie I’ve ever told.” Jacked pushed her hair off her forehead and planted a kiss there. “I’m so sorry. I thought you didn’t think I was good enough for you.”

“That’s not true. I didn’t mean what I said—”

“I know,” he said, stopping the words tumbling out of her. “I know you believe in me. I know you’re proud of me. But I was so lost that I let my own insecurities hold me back from you.”

“Youaregood enough for me.” She wanted him to know that he was her everything. “If anything, you’re too good for me.”

“Never too good for you.” He swiped the back of his finger down her cheek. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. She liked it just fine. “But I know now that Iamgood enough for you, because no one knows you like I do. No one can ever love you as much as I do.”

His words finally sank in. He loved her. Happiness, blinding in its brilliance, burst through her.Jack loves me.

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