Page 100 of Elijah
“I can’t forgive myself for not listening to you. I truly can’t, but all I can do is say sorry and ask you to forgive me and let me show you how much I love and trust you.”
I reached up on my tiptoe, gasping as a shiver ran through me, and kissed Elijah’s cheek.
“I’m so very sorry,” I whispered against his ear. “I love you, always have and always will.”
Elijah looked at me with rain dripping from his hair and face and as he leaned forward, the clouds lifted from his eyes. He watched me for what felt like hours, his eyes taking in every part of my face, until finally he looked up at the sky and then back to me.
“Never run from me again,” he said, his voice breaking. “Listen to me when I say this again; I have never and would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I know,” I sobbed, reaching my hands up to frame his face. “And I promise I’ll never run again.”
When his mouth smashed against mine, the coldness seeping into my body disappeared. Warmth and love pulsed through my veins and my blood heated as Elijah’s strong arms pulled me tighter against him. His hands pushed under my leather jacket and sodden jumper, touching, feeling, and warming my damp skin as his fingers explored.
Needing more, I stood on my tiptoes and arched my hips forward, relishing in the feel of his erection against me. I was back where I belonged, in the arms of the man I loved and adored. The man I trusted and believed in.
As Elijah’s fingers tangled in my hair, dragging through the wet strands, the emotion was too much and tears of joy started to crawl down my cheeks. His face was wet too and somehow I knew it wasn’t just from the rain. Standing in the middle of the road, kissing and touching, this was the end of the dark days, the days when we’d lost each other, when grief, pride, and stupidity had taken away what was most precious – us.
Lost in each other, we barely heard the car that beeped at us, it was only when the puddle he drove through splashed over us that we drew apart.
“Oh my god,” I groaned, looking down at my soaking wet jeans. “That’s gone right through to my knickers.”
Elijah laughed and shook his head. “Why were you chasing after my truck in the rain anyway?”
“Because I love you and needed to tell you.”
He reached out a finger and ran it across my lips. “You didn’t think to drive here?”
“I didn’t have my car.” I lowered my eyes. “I was on my way to the Lakes.”
Elijah grunted. “So what, Leon just dumped you?”
“No,” I said, smacking at his chest. “I asked him to stop the car. He dropped me on Cartwright Street and I ran from there.”
“And then you did that pathetic little throw of your shoe at my truck?” He grinned and pulled me against him, kissing the top of my head. “I guess we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
I nodded. “Yes, we do, but first tell me, where were you going?”
Elijah cleared his throat and I felt a little hint of fear grip me, wondering if he was going to see Mia.
I waited, with tension filling my body, as he moved an arm from around me and reached behind him and produced a piece of soggy paper.
“What is it?” I asked, as Elijah unfolded it and passed it to me. I read it and gasped. “You were going to the same hotel I was going to.”
I looked up at him questioningly to see he had a huge grin.
“Elijah?”
He wrapped me in his arms again and whispered against my ear. “As if I’d let you go away for weekend with someone called Leon who was obsessed with Laurel & Hardy.”
“How did you know?” I gasped, scrunching the paper in my hand.
“Let’s just say a little bird called Claudia told me. Now,” he said, gently moving away from me. “Let’s get you inside and out of those wet knickers.”
“And what about my wet clothes?” I asked, grinning up at him.
“Goes without saying they’ll be gone too, but it’s the knickers I’m most interested in.”
After another deep kiss, Elijah picked up my bag and then led me by the hand into his house, ready to start our new beginning.
