Page 44 of Moving to Love
Jeremiah and Joci sat in his truck, looking into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity. Joci’s heart raced in her chest; she thought it would burst right out of her body, the beating so erratic and hard it made her body move with it.
Slowly, Jeremiah touched Joci’s cheek with his left hand, running the backs of his fingers along her cheek to her jaw. His eyes never left hers. She saw him swallow twice, then clear his throat. “I love you, Joci James…I love you.”
* * *
His fingers curled into her nape and pulled her head to his as he kissed her softly. His full lips lightly moved over Joci’s, needing the contact. Her declaration of love meant more to him than any other moment in time. He had never been in love before and never had a woman he loved declare love to him. So, this was the big fuss. He understood it now.
As their kiss ended, Jeremiah pulled back and looked into Joci’s eyes. “Are you okay? I mean…Connor. Are you okay with that?”
Joci took a deep breath. “That was hard, and I wasn’t expecting it. It caught me off guard.”
Yeah, he felt sorry for the bastard, but he wasn’t sorry in the least. Now Connor knew the score on this front and Jeremiah hoped that would be the end of his having to worry about him. Jeremiah leaned over and hugged her to him, then kissed the top of her head.
“Sorry it was hard for you, but I’m glad he knows. I’m so damned in love with you.”
Chapter 17
Joci walked into Jeremiah’s around 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday. He was there, putting something together for supper.
“Sorry I’m late getting home. I was in the middle of a project and lost track of time.”
He stopped what he was doing, turned, and smiled at her.
“You just said you were late getting ‘home.’ You think of this as home.”
He walked toward her. Stalked was more like it, with a smile on his face.
“Move in. Live with me, Joci.”
He watched her reaction and held his breath. Joci saw him come closer and held his gaze. She did feel like this was home now. It was a Freudian slip that she called it home. But that was a sign, wasn’t it? She took a deep breath.
“It’s been four weeks. We’ve been playing this game—you running to your place during the day and coming back here in the evening. You’re practically living here. I want you here. You want to be here, don’t you?”
Joci took a deep breath. “I suppose you have all the logistics worked out in your head?”
“I do.”
She smirked. “Tell me about it.”
Jeremiah smiled and touched her face. He kissed the tip of her nose and then her lips.
“There’s room here for us. Plenty of room. The spare bedrooms can certainly be rearranged, or the furniture can be removed for any of your furniture that you want here. One of the rooms can be converted to an office for the time being. But I have office space at Rolling Thunder, you can use. That way, you can meet with clients there. You told me once that sometimes you had to look for a space to have meetings because you were uncomfortable having people at your house during the day when you were there by yourself. You can use my conference room. You can have the office set up any way you like. I can see you all day. I can talk to you and be with you.”
Jeremiah took a deep breath and continued, “If there is furniture here you don’t like or would like to replace with yours, just let me know; we can switch it out. One of the boys would probably need some of the furniture, too. It can work, Joci. And, if after all of that, you aren’t happy here, we’ll buy another place. I don’t care where we live, as long as we’re together.”
Jeremiah stared at her, willing her to say yes. Joci took a deep breath. This was big.
“Say yes, Joci. You’re here most of the time anyway. Say yes.”
She swallowed. Giving up her home, starting over at another place, and living permanently with Jeremiah. Joci’s voice was soft, barely a whisper. “Yes.”
Jeremiah whooped, lifted her up, and spun her around. When her feet were firmly on the ground, he planted his lips on hers in a toe-curling, consuming kiss that had her light-headed and dizzy.
“I’m so happy, Joci. You won’t regret this. I promise.”
As they finished making supper, they discussed the logistics of making this move.
Joci began. “The first thing I need to do is talk to Gunnar and see if he wants to move into the house. His apartment is small and kind of crappy. Now that he’s been working for a couple of years and making good money, he might want a bigger place.”
