Page 72 of Wine and Research
He shook his head and brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “It’s all the more reason to stay. Make a stand with me. We can fight your past.”
She sucked in a breath and had to reach out to grab onto his arms to keep from falling because her legs threatened to buckle. “M-my past?”
What exactly did he think he knew?
“Yes, your ex told me why you divorced,” he said, his voice full of compassion.
She nodded. “I’m cursed, Jeremy. I refused to let him die because of me, and I sure as hell am not going to let you die, either.”
Elle tried to move away, but he set his hands on her hips and held her there.
“We are all going to die, Elle. But it isn’t for us to decide when.”
Deep down, she knew that, but she also knew she was cursed.
“My brother died seven years after my dad, and my mother died fourteen years after my brother.” Tears were streaming down her face again, but she didn’t care. “In four years, it’ll be the fourteenth anniversary of my mother’s death. My chances aren’t good of surviving, and…” Elle paused to suck in a breath before she continued, “and if we stayed together, your chances will be even slimmer. Everyone I’ve ever loved that was in my life has died, Jeremy. I can’t…Iwon’tlet that happen to you.”
With a growl, he crushed her close, and she cried for what could have been, for what she wished she could have, but most of all, she cried because she had to let him go.
After a few minutes, she regained control of her body and drew out of his embrace. “I need you to live, Jeremy. So, I’m leaving today.”
His gaze darkened, and misery ruled his tone. “Don’t go, Elle. Don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. We’re good together. We’re meant to be together. How can you not see that?”
All she could see was death in his future if she stayed.
“Do you really think it was a coincidence that you drove into this town and found it perfect for the series you’re writing to honor my father?” he asked. “And do you really think it was a coincidence that you were assigned as a ride-along to the son of the man who’d tried to save your brother, especially when you originally thought it had been Martin?”
Her heart was in her throat, hammering away her breath. She lifted a shoulder, unsure what to think anymore.
“Well, I don’t, Elle. It’s way too long of a shot to be pure coincidence,” he said with such conviction she almost believed him. “Besides, I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Neither did she, but admitting that out loud could…what?
Cause a lightning bolt to shoot out of the sky and zap them both?
“Call it fate, or my dad, your brother, your mother, your father, hell, all of our departed,” he stated. “But our paths crossed with help from above.”
She exhaled. “I thought that too,” she managed to say on a halting breath.
He was right. The possibility that she could’ve chosen this place and met him on accident was crazy. And hadn’t she started to let fate drive her path here in the Poconos? Specifically, her journey with Jeremy?
Could she really stay?
“Give us a chance,” he said softly, caressing her cheek.
She closed her eyes, wanting too so badly, but… “I’m scared,” she admitted, opening her eyes to find his warm, strong, raw gaze open to her.
“I know you are,” he said. “And it’s okay. I am too. But I’m certain this is where you belong. With me, in my arms, riding along with me, in my life forever.”
She hiccupped and sucked in a breath at the same time.
“I’m here for you, Elle. I’ve got you.”
More damn tears escaped to run down her cheeks. “But what if you die in four years? Or I die? I don’t want that pain for you.”
His gaze grew fierce, and emotions blazed bright and clear as he cupped her face. “Then I’ll love the hell out of you in the meantime.”
Elle inhaled past her tight throat, but before she could respond, his mouth came down on hers, kissing her with the same emotions and conviction she’d seen in his eyes.
