Page 76 of Shy Girl
“J-just s-say it,” she whispered. “W-whatever you're g-going to say.”
I leaned closer, until my face was a breath from hers. She hadn't opened her eyes, but her breath hitched. She held it, her heart pounding so hard I could see it at her graceful collarbone.
“I don't want Victoria,” I murmured. My fingers slid into her hair. A tear dropped out of her eye and I swiped it with my thumb. “I wantyou. That's what I came to tell you. That I've been an idiot all this time. The perfect woman was at my fingertips, but I never saw it.”
I caught her sob with a kiss.
Her warm, gentle lips met mine. She threw her arms around me with a cry, then melted into my touch. I kissed her breathless. I kissed her until my chest burned with the force of my heart. I kissed her until everything inside me was about to explode.
Before I could say a word, she buried her face in my neck with a little cry. I crushed her too much, stunned by the feeling of her body pressed to mine.
19
Dagny
The wedding moved past me in a gentle blur.
Jayson held onto my hand as he gently led me onto a sparkling dance floor in the middle of the hotel atrium. Other couples quietly swayed around us to a violin-led slow song. The room had been dimmed for the father-daughter dance, during which Anthony Dunkin appeared unwell, and pale, and left the room as soon as it finished. Once the ceremony had completed, Jayson had taken my hand again and wouldn’t let it go.
Meanwhile, my brain operated with bright, flashing lights.
JAYSON HERNANDEZ LIKES YOU.
JAYSON HERNANDEZ LIKES YOU.
His many, stolen kisses lingered on my lips like a secret breath. Even the way he held me close, his arms wrapped around my body so possessively, sent my heart into another flutter. I could hardly comprehend what he had said to me. WhatIsaid back. The gumption it required of me to lay it all out there after yeras of adoration. To put my heart on the line and watch it chug away, into someone else's hands.
Jayson's hands.
Almost a decade existed between the awestruck freshman that fell hard for Jayson Hernandez and who I was now, but the giddy joy of young love had seized me all over again. Only this time, it was better. More complete and loaded with time and experience.
“Dag?” he murmured.
I tipped my head back to look at him. He studied me, as if trying to make sense of all this, and my lips split in a wide grin. The tip of his fingers touched my cheek, and a slow smile filled with adoration followed. He looked at me the way I’d always looked at him. My brain nearly split in half with the attempt to comprehend.
Jayson. Hernandez. Liked. Me.
He pushed a strand of hair out of my face. “Thank you for coming with me.”
“Th-thank you f-for inviting m-me.”
“You know it was my pleasure.”
We whirled in a dizzying circle, and I laughed as I clung to him. A shout across the room caught my attention. We glanced up to see a worker from the hotel escorting what appeared to be a bouncer across the room, toward a sloppy-drunk Victoria. She clung to her wine glass and growled as they approached. They spoke quietly and pointed toward the door, but she resisted with a firm shake of her head. Then reached back and grabbed the table to stabilize herself.
“B-b-bit too much to d-drink,” I murmured, although I couldn’t deny a thrill. Finally, I wasn’t the one wallowing in sadness over Jayson Hernandez. While I felt a pang of sadness for her—even commiseration, because I knew how it felt when Jayson didn’t know I existed—I couldn’t help my relief.
This time, I had the one I wanted.
“She has a lot to be sad about,” Jayson said, then whisked me away into the dance again.
When the dance ended, he cupped a hand around my cheek and pulled me into a sweet kiss, then let me go when a wolf whistle came from behind us. Bastian and Vik approached, their neckties loosened and shirts untucked. Jayson drew me into his side, an arm around my shoulders, as if the other two would start a tug-of-war.
Bastian winked at me.
“Finally!” Vikram rolled his eyes so hard his head tilted back. “Has hefinallyfigured out how hot you are?”
Jayson growled. Vik laughed and held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. My cheeks brightened in a blush as Vik laughed it off.
