Page 45 of Loving Lies (Granton University 3)

Before he continued, he cut himself off abruptly. She lifted her face, eager to hear about his own experience with fear, but he shook his head, dismissing whatever he was going to say.

“There’s a lot of bad shit in the world, Tess. But if you let it get to you, it’ll drag you under until you just can’t breathe through it, until it takes you down, too.”

She searched his face, already feeling comforted and safe just being here in his arms, listening to him understand her phobia. “How do you stop it from getting to you?”

He laughed softly. “I don’t know, exactly. You just keep on keeping on, I guess. Look for every ounce of happiness, laughter, silliness, and hope in the world, and you cherish those moments.”

Gazing into his eyes, Tess fell. Hard. “I’m happy,” she whispered. “Right here, just like this. With you. I’ve never felt this kind of happiness before.”

He swallowed. Then his gaze fell to her mouth before he swooped in to kiss her. She clutched his shoulder, and he turned his torso in toward hers so he could roll half on top of her. But he sucked in a curse and winced, breaking the kiss so he could fall back onto his side and writhe.

“Oh, my God.” She clutched his good arm. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you. Let me get off the bed so you can—”

“No!” His hand shot out and caught her hip so she couldn’t leave. “We’ve been over this. You know I’d rather you stay.”

“But the nurse was right. I could make things worse.”

He leaned into her with a teeth-gritted smile. “Then I’d die with a smile on my face. Besides, my girl came here to be cheered up. I take that shit seriously. Now…let me cheer you up.”

Chapter Twelve

IT HAD TAKEN JONAH FOREVER to fall sleep. He’d felt like crap from the moment he’d turned his back on Tess and she’d walked out of his room earlier today. He’d wanted to call her back, but what would he have said? Sorry for letting you down, for being a complete failure?

But now that she was here, in his bed, at two o’clock in the morning, none of that mattered. She’d come back, despite everything, because he was the one she wanted to be with. So, he made it his new life mission to give her what she’d asked for: a smile.

“Let’s see here,” he murmured against her throat and had to kiss the warm, soft, great-smelling skin a couple times. “How to cheer up Tess? Hmm. There’s got to be a happy button on you somewhere, I’d think.” Being as silly as he could, he picked up her hand and pressed on her bright red thumbnail as if punching a real button. After gauging her reaction, he made a face. “No. No, I don’t think that was it.”

When she smiled, finally realizing he was playing, he arched an eyebrow. “Or was it?” He pressed on her thumbnail again. She shook her head and laughed, so he made a fascinated sound. “Interesting. It seems we’ve located one happy button, but I’m curious to know if the subject has more.”

When he lightly squeezed the tip of her nose, she chuckled some more and ducked her head. “You’re being ridiculous.”

He merely grinned. “Isn’t that the point? To be silly and make you smile?”

With a sad twitch to the lips, her shoulders sagged. “I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“Yes, you should have. And I’m glad you did. There should be no other goal in the world than to make someone important to you smile.” He slid his hands down her sides until he reached the hem of her shirt, finding his way under the cloth, he smoothed his fingers back up, skin against skin across her abdomen.

She drew in a taut breath, and he grinned, gently rubbing his thumb around her belly button. “Now what about here? Do you feel any happiness when I touch you here?”

Tess nodded without saying a word. Her lashes fell closed, and it took everything he had not to kiss her perfect lips. Oh, the hell with it. He leaned in and set his mouth against hers. The kiss was slow and powerful, tugging all kinds of emotions out of him.

For the first time in his life, he didn’t want to be anywhere else than where he was. He was home. Tess was his home.

His fingers continued to forage a path under her shirt, exploring her warm, soft belly until he needed to feel more. He stroked upward, and she arched with him, her body encouraging him.

“That’s definitely a happy button,” Tess admitted breathlessly when he cupped her bra.

Jonah paused with his hand on the underside of her breast. Blinking down at her, he stared with clueless abandon. “Huh?”

Her smile brightened her entire face. Drowning in her absolute beauty, he could only gape dumbfounded as she murmured, “And the amnesia strikes again.” She swept a lock of hair out of his face. “Have you already forgotten that you’re looking for happy buttons?”

A pang of guilt hit him. Right. Happy buttons. Amnesia. For a minute, he’d forgotten all about that. About everything but Tess. Nothing else had mattered. But now that she’d pulled him back to reality, he skimmed his hand out of her shirt and patted her clothes back into shape.

Her eyebrows wrinkled in confused

. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to go too far. Not here. And if I kept on with those particular happy buttons, I’m not sure I could stop.”

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