Page 65 of Not Over You

She nodded in his palms.

“Say it,” he demanded.

“I promise.”

“Say ‘I am not a mistake’.”

She swallowed. “I am not a mistake.”

“Never, baby. You were not a mistake. Not ever. I need you to believe that.”

It was hard to just dismiss those deep-seated feelings that she wasn’t just a happy accident but a mistake, but when Jordan looked at her the way he was, when he professed his love and made her repeat after him, those feelings started to fade.

She knew they’d always be there to a degree, buried deep down, resurrecting themselves when she was around her parents, but if she kept those visits short and surrounded herself with people who loved her—liked Jordan and all the people in the house and backyard, then she’d be okay. Those feelings could stay dormant and buried.

“What are we going to do about the turkey?” she asked. “Is there any sense even making the mashed potatoes or sprouts or anything?”

He shook his head. “I’ve already ordered a fuck-ton of pizzas. They’ll be here in forty minutes. The kitchen is cleaned up. Dogs are back outside. Kids are watching the movie. I said I’d pay Zoe and Connor twenty bucks each to keep the little kids in check and not bother the Cheech and Chong wannabes outside, or you in here. They seemed up to the task.”

Relief flooded her. “Thank you.”

He shrugged. “I fucked up, it’s the least I could do. We’ll buy another turkey and do Thanksgiving another weekend. Just because it’s the second Sunday of October on the calendar doesn’t mean wehaveto celebrate it today. Maybe we can do a Yankee Thanksgiving and hold it on a Thursday.” His smile warmed her.

“Maybe.”

“There is no use crying over a demolished turkey. Those who own those dogs will be dealing with turkey farts and interesting dog shit for the next twenty-four hours, but luckily, that’s not our problem.”

She laughed as a few roguish tears fell down her cheeks. He swept them away.

“I love you, Rayma. I want to build a life with you and if you want to start back at the beginning, have a second first date, then we can. I want to do itrightthis time. If you’ll allow me a do-over?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Do we have to wait eleven dates to have sex again?”

That made him laugh and he released her face and tossed his head back. “If you’d like to punish me further for my stupidity, we can.”

“But then that’s punishing me, too. And I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve been a perfect angel throughout all of this.” She batted her lashes at him and smiled coyly. “If anything,Ishould get all the orgasms, starting on date number one, and you should have to remain celibate both from sex and self-abuse for eleven dates.”

He choked a little at the thought of that but then nodded. “If that’s what it will take to prove to you how sorry I am, then I’ll do it. Can we have all eleven dates in a row, like eleven days straight? I think I have some vacation time saved up.”

Giggling, and with a light and buoyant heart, she wrapped her arms around his neck, stood up, and kissed him. “Or maybe we could just go backward and call now date number eleven.”

He smiled against her lips and dipped her back. “If that’s what you want.”

“I want you to apologize to me properly with that tongue of yours, then bend me over this stool and claim me as yours,” she said, biting his bottom lip and tugging.

“That, I can do,” he said. “Except for one change.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not going to have the first time I’m back inside you in over three years be where I can’t see your face when you come, or smother your cries with my kisses. I’m going to fuck you face-to-face, so you can look into my eyes and not only feel how much I love you but also see it.”

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Presentday…

Always a ninja when it came to removing her clothes, Jordan had her jeans down to her ankles, along with her panties. He had her flipped around with her hands on Grant’s workbench and her ass in the air before she could even draw in a complete breath.

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