Page 92 of When love and Hate Collide

“Alive.” I whisper. “I feel alive and excited again. Even though I don’t know where we’ll be tomorrow or even if we’ll last at all, with you I like not knowing.”

“Then choose me, JJ.” Dean urges, tucking his finger under my chin and tilting my head up a little. “Who says we have to make sense if we’re both willing to try and deep down we both know that us being together is what’s right for our baby.” Dean explains, combing his fingers through my hair.

I bite my lip contemplating his words, his green eyes pleading with me to give us a chance. My heart squeezes a little. The man takes my breath away and I can no longer deny that I’ve fallen for him. I still can’t believe it, Dean Reyes is in love with me and I’m crazy about him, too.

How surreal is that?

“What if it doesn’t work, Dean?” I ask apprehensively and he presses his forehead to mine, licking his lips.

“JJ, if it doesn’t work between us then I swear to you, I will be by your side until the day I die helping you raise our baby.” My eyes search his and those beautiful green eyes shine with such devotion and sincerity it makes me ache deeply.

“Okay.”

Dean bites his lower lip and smiles handsomely, his eyes closing.

“Okay?” He whispers, “We’re doing this?”

I smile, licking my lips. “We’re doing this.” I affirm, my eyes closing when I feel his lips hover over mine. I wait for him to close the gap and kiss me, but when he doesn’t I open my eyes and peek up at him.

“Take the ring off.” He demands, dragging his nose over mine. “I’m not kissing a girl that’s promised to another.” I don’t argue and remove the promise ring. “Now go break up with him and come back to me so I can kiss you.”

I sigh, resting my head back against the door. “Dean, I can’t break up with him tonight, not after what you did to him, that would be really cruel.” Dean lowers his eyes to my lips and nods. “We were supposed to leave tonight after the party, I highly doubt he will want to travel now.” Dean frowns, drawing his head back to look at me.

“Leave where?”

“Back to Manchester,” I tell him, playing with the tags on the chain around his neck. “I couldn’t stand being around you anymore, I couldn’t think clearly, I was on the verge of losing my mind, so I thought if I left and put some distance between us I would see that I made the right judgement in choosing Paxton.”

“You’re not going anywhere with him. If you do, I’ll come after you, drag you out of that car kicking and screaming.” Dean expresses sombrely. “I’m not losing you tonight or any other night for that matter.” Smiling, I nod, wrapping my arms around his neck, hugging him and his strong arms envelope me. “I’m so sick of letting you go,” Dean murmurs into my neck.

“So don’t, Lieutenant.” I whisper, pressing my lips to the base of his neck. “Don’t ever let me go.”

When Dean draws back to look into my upturned face, I notice the wound on his brow is oozing blood. I place my hands against his chest. “Come on, let me clean you up.”

Dean nods, and steps back to give me room to unlock the door. I notice a white fluffy bear sitting on his bed on top of a pile of papers and I side step him to walk over and pick it up.

The adorable little bear is holding a yellow heart that has the words ‘Daddy loves you’ written across it. My eyes burn with unshed tears before I turn to look at Dean who is watching me. “Did you buy this for the baby?”

Dean nods, his Adams apple bobbing in his throat when he swallows. “Yeah, I got it that day I missed the appointment and was going to give it to you, but then I saw you with him and I didn’t.” I look down at the bear again and press it to my chest, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“You were never going to walk away, were you?” Dean pushes his hands into his pockets and shakes his head glumly.

“No, those three days you accused me of being balls deep in another girl I was with my superiors discussing the possibility of me stepping down from my rank so I could be there for you and the baby. Again I was going to discuss it with you but you went and got engaged, so… ” he shrugs and gestures to the pile of papers on his bed. “Those are the papers, already signed.”

I have never felt so imprudent in my life than I did in that moment. All the times I called him immature and insisted he wasn’t ready to take on the responsibility of being a dad, and he’s there moving his whole life around to be there for us.

“Dean, I’m so sorry,” I cry, “Why didn’t you tell me?” Dean walks over to me and cups my face with his large hands and brushes my tears away.

“I tried, but you never believed me, JJ.” I sob and he presses his lips to my forehead. “Hey, shh, shh come on, it’s okay. You’re both where you belong now.” He murmurs affectionately, his fingers combing through my hair.

“Dean?! Jeyla?!” Ashlyn’s voice suddenly comes from downstairs followed by the door slamming shut. Dean and I jerk apart, and he smiles at me sexily. “Oh God, tell me you haven’t killed each other!”

Two days followingthe disastrous party is another delightfully bright and suffocatingly hot Tuesday and once again my household is empty where everyone has left for work, leaving me to sleep peacefully or at least, I planned to.

Let me lick you up and down, till you say stop.

I groan and stir from my slumber when loud music suddenly filters through my open window. My green eyes peel open and I let out a string of curses beneath my breath. “Who in the devil is playing music so loud this early?!” I grumble, pulling the pillow over my head in a desperate attempt to block out the music, but no such luck as I can still feel the bass thumping in my brain. Seriously?Freak Meby Another Level? What kind of cheesy bastard listens to a song this cringe-worthy.

Let me do all the things you want me to do…

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