Page 73 of If You Loved Me

She rolled her lips together and looked away. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Hey.” I tilted her chin so she had to look at me again. “I wouldn’t lie to you about this. If I needed you to do something different I would have told you. But you were fuckingperfect, Sarah.” I chuckled. “If being with you feels this good every time, I’m going to need to work on lasting longer. It’s never been a problem until now.”

That had a smile blooming on her face. “We definitely can’t have that. I expect to be fully satisfied during my first time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, my voice lowering an octave.

Another flash of hesitancy flickered across her face. “And you’re sure it doesn’t bother you? That I’m a virgin?”

I leaned back so she could see my entire face. “I don’t think you understand just how tightly I’m wrapped around your dainty little finger. You being a virgin has no bearing over my feelings for you, Sarah. We go at your pace, when you’re ready. I’d wait an entire lifetime to be with you if that’s what you needed.”

“Is this crazy?” She blushed, placing her hand on my chest, right above my heart. “How we can feel this wild about one another?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I think life is filled with twists and turns and if you spend too much time wondering if something is crazy by other people’s standards then you lose out on the beauty right in front of you. I spent a lot of time letting my life waste away out of fear. You’ve made me forget about all that. So, no. I don’t think it’s crazy.”

Her face brightened with a smile. “I love that I can just be with you. I’ve always had to pretend that I wanted other things for myself. That’s how I ended up in the situation with Jones. But with you, I’ve never had to pretend. Not for a single moment.”

“And you never will have to pretend again if you don’t want to.” I pressed my lips to hers in a gentle kiss, before scooting her down so she was nestled against my chest. I don’t know how long we sat there with her in my arms, the only sound was a gentle crackle of the burning wood in the hearth.

I savored every precious moment like it was my last.

Chapter 31

Sarah

“Wait, what? He wouldn’t let you go? I could strangle him!” Willow’s neck was flushed with anger after I told her that Jones had grabbed me and tried to prevent me from leaving the restaurant.

We were on our way to the bridal salon for her final dress fitting when she begged me for an update on all things related to my love life. She said that since Johnny and she were doing so well, she didn’t have any drama to gossip about in her life. I didn’t know if I should have laughed or been insulted.

“Yup. I knew there was something off about him based on some of the questions he asked me and the comments he made. But I never would have thought he was the kind of man who would put his hands on a woman, especially when she told him to go away.”

“Do you know where he lives? I wasn’t kidding when I said I could strangle him,” she scowled.

“I don’t think we have to worry about him anymore. Ranger…well, he kind of took care of it.”

“Um, are you going to elaborate?” she asked, giving me a sidelong glance.

“Let’s just say he did the strangling and Jones barely walked away.”

“Shit,” she whispered.

“Yeah. I know.”

She pulled her Mercedes into a parking spot in front of the bridal salon. After Willow shifted into park, she turned in her seat to face me. “Things must be getting pretty serious if he would put himself at risk like that again. It sounds like Jones comes from a family just like LeRoy’s. He wasn’t worried he would get into trouble?”

“He told me last night that there weren’t any cameras surveilling the side of the building. I think he’s started to look out for those kinds of things after what happened to him.”

Willow’s voice was quiet as she said, “Yeah. I guess so.”

“What are you thinking?” I could tell she wasn’t saying something by the way she kept being quiet and tentative with her thoughts. Willow wasn’t a quiet kind of woman.

She grabbed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. “I just hate that you were even put in the position to date someone you didn’t like. Your mother never should have asked you to do something like that, Sarah. Does she know what he did to you?”

Anger made my throat feel tight. I swallowed, trying to ease the muscles but it was no use. Talking about my parentswould always feel hard, I realized. “I haven’t said anything to her.”

“Why not?”

“Honestly? I don’t think she will care. Image is the only thing she concerns herself with and as long as Jones kept things discreet, I doubt him doing anything to me would matter to her.”

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