Page 106 of And I Love Her

His confession lodged in the hollow ache right at the center of her soul. Disentangling her hand from his, Callie took a deep breath and tried to smother her rising fear.

“I can’t imagine a more exciting, lovely life than one in which we’re married.” She picked up the wadded napkin and twisted it between her fingers. “I also can’t see how it would work with such different lives. To me, marriage is about beingtogether. I don’t want only part of you, and I don’t want to give you only part of me. I know we can travel to see either and all that, but the fact is that now I have an even greater responsibility to the college, and I would never stop you from making whatever film you—oh!”

Before she could take another breath, Jake grabbed her and hauled her against him. He pressed his mouth to hers in a hard, hot kiss that sent heat zinging through Callie’s veins and melted the lingering cold around her heart.

With a muffled moan, she speared her hands into his hair, parted her lips, and returned the kiss with a greedy hunger that matched his.

By the time he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard, and flames were firing up in Callie’s blood. He rested his big, warm hand on the side of her neck, a suffusion of love and tenderness radiating from him.

“Callie, I’m moving to Bliss Cove. If you’ll have me,” he added quickly.

“You’re what?”

“I quit the Birch movie.” He shook his head, his mouth compressing. “I’ll tell you all about it later but, suffice it to say, he’s a scumbag. I don’t want to work with him.”

Callie stared at him, hope nudging past her fear. “So you’re not doing another movie?”

“Not right away.” A hint of worry flashed in his eyes. “I never want to stop making movies, but I’m taking an indefinite break to write my own screenplay.”

“Jake, that’s wonderful!” She smiled, thrilled at the discovery that he was about to take a step toward telling his stories his own way. “What are you going to write about?”

“I don’t know yet, but I think it will have something to do with my father.” He moved his fingers gently over her collarbone. “How his leaving forced me to grow up…maybe before I was ready to. However it turns out, it’ll be personal and mean something to me. I have a lot to learn, and I have no idea how long it will take, but I want to live in Bliss Cove while I figure it all out. I don’t know what’s going to happen after that, but I promise you I’ll never take a role or start any kind of project that will interfere withus.”

“Jake, I—”

“Let me finish.” He pulled in a breath. “I want to take you to visit my mother and sister and eventually my nephew. I want us to have dinner together and sleep in the same bed every night. I want us to take road trips, watch movies, have fun. Whatever happens over the years, I want to be with you. I can’t imaginenotbeing with you. It’s like my life was in black-and-white before we met, and then those elevator doors opened and I stepped into a world of color, like inThe Wizard of Oz.”

A smile started in Callie’s heart and made its way to her lips. “I’m your wizard?”

“You’re my color.” He slipped his hand to the back of her neck. “You’re my everything. Please tell me you can live with the uncertainty of life with an action-movie star who has delusions of wanting to be a writer and a director.”

Winding her arms around his neck, Callie shook her head. “I can’t live with that.”

“You can’t?”

“Iwantto live with that. With you. I wouldn’t want to live any other way. Welcome back home, Jake.”

His smile creased his eyes at the corners and lit up the entire auditorium. Tightening his grip, he planted another kiss on her. Callie responded with increasing fervor as shooting stars spilled through her veins.

“No making out in the mezzanine!” Gus Mortimer’s gruff voice ordered from down below.

With a laugh, they pulled away from each other.

The old theater owner grinned up at them. “You get what you wanted, son?”

Jake hugged Callie to his side. “More than what I wanted, Gus. I’ve got more than I’ve ever dreamed of.”

“Then you’re one of the lucky ones.” Gus gave them a little salute.

She smiled up at Jake. “Isn’t that the truth?”

He lowered his head, and they shared another warm kiss. Colors and light lifted her heart. For so long, she’d felt as if she needed to hold on tight to everything because she was fearful of what might happen if she let go. Uncontrollable fate so often turned things to chaos, but she’d forgotten that it also created indescribable beauty.

Though Callie would always believe that there was most assuredly a time and a place for holding on, she now understood the vast importance ofletting go. All the things she’d secretly believed in and longed for—deep, all-consuming love, lifelong passion, even good luck and outright fun—had always been waiting for her.

As it turned out, all she’d had to do was release her grip and let all of life’s wonders fall into her open arms.

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