Page 35 of It's You
“What? It was what?”Besides the most amazing moment of my life until five minutes ago.
“Binding,” he breathed, his fingers curling into fists in her lap.It was binding.
“B-binding?”
He nodded once, his face a mixture of worry and remorse as he courageously held her eyes.
“What does that mean?” she asked, desperate to understand, searching his eyes for answers. “I don’t know what that means.”
It means what it meant from the beginning.
“It means that I belong to you,” he whispered.
“And I belong to you,” she murmured.
The vow came easily, but Darcy still wasn’t sure what he meant. She knew what the word binding meant in terms of contracts, but it was nonsensical that a kiss between two teenagers could mean anything that serious. And yet…
Without realizing it, she had dropped her hands from his face and was surprised to feel the cool metal of the car under her fingertips.
“Binding,” she murmured again.
He nodded at her again, taking a deep breath and watching her intently, as though worried she might scream or faint or try to run away. Suddenly, nothing felt as important as reassuring him. She met his eyes, finding his hands in her lap and clutching onto them, feeling her face soften with the strength of her feelings for him.
I’m not going anywhere, Jack…
“But I don’t understand.”
He brought her knuckles to his lips again and kissed them tenderly.
“Let’s have dinner. We’ll talk. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ll try to explain more.”
She nodded, lacing her fingers through his as he led her out of the garage her brother built and into the lodge of her dreams.
8
His house was beautiful.
Decorated in earthy tones, with soft, ambient light in every room, Darcy couldn’t have imagined a more perfect home if she had decorated it herself. They entered the house by the front door, and she found herself in a small coatroom with a slate floor and brass hooks for hanging coats to her right, and a small bench for taking off muddy or snowy shoes. To the left of the door was a room housing a veritable mountain of chopped wood.
“Did you chop all that?” she asked, eyebrows raised.
He smiled at her and winked. “Keeps me in shape.”
He pulled her into the living room, which was more of a great room with high ceilings, exposed beams, and skylights. A massive flagstone fireplace dominated the wall to the right, with full bookcases on either side. A sofa faced the fireplace with reading chairs and lamps to the left and right. A stuffed elk’s head with fifteen points was mounted over the fireplace.
“You?” she asked.
He nodded. “Do you like to hunt?”
“No,” she answered. “I wouldn’t know how to kill anything. My brother, Amory, he hunts. Sort of the state pastime, I guess.”
“But not for you?” he asked, watching her intently.
She shook her head and shrugged. “Not for me.”
He took her hand and led her to the kitchen, which was relatively small for such a large house, but the deck that ran the length of the living room and kitchen made both rooms feel larger. Two sets of French doors in the living room and huge picture windows made the outside feel like part of the room.
“I love how you’ve decorated, Jack,” she said approvingly, squeezing his hand.
