Page 53 of 40 and Flirting (with Disaster)
“I know what I’m talking about,” she protested.
Jamie didn’t object further. “Where were we a minute ago?”
She squirmed.
“Oh yes.” He took each foot in hand and began a hard massage of her arches that had her eyes rolling back in her head. “You said, that reminds me…”
She allowed her body to slide down until her chin was at the level of the water. Jamie reached behind him and turned off the water, then speared her with his green gaze. “You were saying?”
She gathered her courage. “What was that Krista said to her father about you?” Not that she didn’t know. She knew very well what words had left Krista’s mouth, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to say them out loud.
Jamie’s amusement said he knew exactly which words she was talking about and why she hadn’t voiced them. “Do you mean about you being happy?”
She jerked one foot away and used her toes again, this time to flick water at Jamie. “That is not what I meant.” He was enjoying making this harder for her.
“Hmmm…” He recaptured her foot and rubbed the center pad until she moaned. “What could it have been?”
“Jamie,” she warned.
Chuckling, he brought one foot to his mouth and scraped his teeth over her big toe. A shiver shot through her.
“Close your eyes,” he said softly.
She could feel the vee between her brows as she digested his words. Why did he want her eyes closed? Staring into her eyes, she thought she detected a hint of vulnerability in this man she could have sworn was never vulnerable.
Her response was as soft as his. “Okay.”
When her eyes were closed, he said, the words again as soft as a breeze, “I believe she said I love you.”
Iris kept her eyes closed, not wanting to spoil the moment. Not wanting to open her eyes and see that Jamie was full of regret or ready to dial back his words. Well, Krista’s words, to be precise. Still…
“I think that’s what she said.,” she agreed. “But”—gulp—“I don’t think she meant herself.”
“No.” He took each of her toes, rubbing them between his fingers. Iris moaned. “I don’t think it was Krista that she was talking about.”
Impatience overcame her trepidation. Iris squinted her eyes open to glare at the man in her bathtub. “So what did she mean?” she asked pointedly.
Jamie’s eyes were tender as he gazed at her across the water. “She was saying that I”—he lifted a hand and pointed at himself—“love you”—the same fingers pointed toward Iris—“and she was right.”
Iris gasped. The movement had her sliding along the bottom of the tub, and her head dipped beneath the water. She came up sputtering. Long moments passed as she got herself back together.
Finally she had to ask, “Was she?”
Jamie moved to massaging her calves. “She was.” He shrugged. “I would’ve told you myself, but she beat me to it.” His grin was wicked.
Something tight and aching in Iris’s chest loosened, allowing her to breathe again. Jamie loved her. Somehow that knowledge didn’t feel new; she felt like she had known it for a long time, in fact. No man would be as patient as he had been with her if he wasn’t in love. And if she was honest with herself, she knew beyond a doubt that Jamie was one in a million. A man worthy of her trust. A man who understood her background and her trauma and her quirks and loved her anyway, loved her enough to walk with her through them instead of abandoning her to them. And she also knew, beyond any doubt, that…
“I love you too.”
Jamie’s head fell back against the bathroom tile, and he let out a hearty roar of laughter. Iris felt her eyes nearly bug out. “What is that?”
It took time to get himself back under control, but when he finally did, he gripped her knees hard. “That’s relief, beautiful.”
“Wait. You…doubting?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it.” He sat up, trailing his hands from her knees along her inner thighs, closer and closer to where she wanted him to touch most. “Remember what I told Adam? There’s not a man alive who doesn’t get nervous when he’s waiting for his girl to say yes.”
“You are not asking me to marry you,” Iris said, the words nearly choked off by her closing throat.
