Page 62 of The Stand-In Boyfriend

It’s been like that from the very first day. I didn’t want to want him, but my body, myheart, didn’t listen. It wanted him and it still wants him.

After everything that has happened, I still want him.

“Don’t cry,” he whispers. His thumb swipes over my cheekbones, wiping away the tears I didn’t even realize were falling. “The last thing I want to do is make you cry, Jessy.”

“I’m not crying because I’m sad.” I sniffle.

“Then why are you crying?”

“Because I want you so much it hurts, but I’m not sure I’m ready to move on. I’m not sure I’m ready to do all of this. My dad left me, Noah. Jack left me. How can I give you my heart? How can I know you’ll stay?”

“I’m not them,” he grits through clenched teeth.

“I know you’re not, but I’m not sure my heart can take it…”

“I love you, Sunshine. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m nothing like them, and I’m ready to prove it to you. There hasn’t been anyone since way before this whole thing started, and I don’t want anybody else. I just want you.”

My heart aches at his words. They’re everything I want to hear, my heart craves them, craves to hear more. It wants to jump out of my ribcage, but my mind…

“It’s not that easy.”

“It could be. You just have to trust me. Do you trust me?”

“I do, but…”

He presses the tip of his finger against my lips. “No buts. You either trust me or you don’t. There isn’t another way around it. All I ask is for you to give me a chance. Give us a chance. I know we could be good, hell,greattogether, if we tried. No more bullshit. Me and you, Sunshine. Me and you. We can take it slow and do it right this time.”

“I…”

It seems so easy when he says it like this. I want to believe him. I want to give it a try.

He presses a soft kiss against the tip of my nose. “Please, tell me you’ll give us a chance. A real chance. And I promise you, this time it’ll be better.”

“Slow?”

“However slow or fast you need. I’ll be here, I promise. I love you and I won’t let you doubt that even for a second. I’m yours for keeps.”

His eyes bore into mine with so much intensity it rocks me to my very core.

Here is this guy that is putting his heart out in the open, for me of all people, and I’m… what? Running scared because he makes me feel the same?

I look up at him. “Promise me.”

“Anything,” he answers instantly.

“Promise me we’ll make this work, and if we don’t…”

He stops me before I can finish. “We’ll make this work. Together. There is no other option. I lived in the darkness for way too long, and now that I found my very own ray of sunshine, I’m planning to keep it forever.”

I watch him, tracing the lines of his face with the tips of my fingers, all the feeling swelling inside of me until I feel like I’ll burst.

“You make it so hard not to fall for you, Noah,” I whisper and press my mouth against the corner of his. “You make me feel so much.Too much. So please, be careful with my heart. I don’t think I could take it if you broke it.”

His fingers dig into my hair at the base of my neck. “Never.”

Then he presses his lips against mine, sealing his promise with a kiss so deep it’s carved into my soul.

Epilogue

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