Page 109 of Booked for Summer

‘To be fair, I don’t know because you’re not telling me, so all I’m left with is guesswork.’

He was so formal, so rigid. She wanted to fling her arms around him but she still wasn’t sure whether she was reading him wrong.

‘You asked for a signal, Jade.’

You need to work on giving out better signals.‘You’re my signal?’

His shoulders slumped. ‘Fuck. I’m going to kill Jeremy.’

‘What? Why?’

‘He said I needed to make a grand gesture.’

That bubble of hope was rising again. ‘You’re my signalandmy grand gesture?’

‘Yes, sort of.’ He looked rattled, she thought. Beautifully, adorably rattled. ‘I brought something else, but now I’m thinking about it, that’s more an icebreaker. An apology for being such a dick. My head was so far up my own ass I couldn’t pull it out in time.’

She stared back at him, feeling as unsure as he looked. The signals were positive, but the message itself unclear. He’d come to ask her back, but in what capacity? For how long? ‘Should we start with the icebreaker, then, it seems appropriate.’

He nodded and darted out, returning a few seconds later with a small box wrapped in silver paper and adorned with a beautiful pink bow. ‘I had nothing to do with the wrapping. That was the lady who made it.’

‘Made it?’

He huffed out a breath. ‘Just open it.’

She’d never been one for delayed gratification so she tore at the packaging, gasping when she saw the keyring nestled inside. ‘Holy shit, it’s a bookworm. An actual bookworm,’ she whispered, eyes travelling along the small furry body and over the bespectacled face before drifting down to the little arms that clutched at a soft furry book. ‘Sparks is going to have his nose well and truly put out of joint. If caterpillars even have a nose, but you know what I mean…’ She trailed off and looked up at him. He could have easily bought her something extravagant that required little effort. Yet he’d bought herthis.‘Thank you.’

Again those silver eyes rested on hers, a soft sheen to them that sent a ball of emotion shooting into her throat.

‘I should have told you I love you,’ he said roughly, taking a few steps towards her until he was right there, the soft material of his shirt brushing against her fingers. His warmth, his smell, sending her hormones into meltdown. And that was before he trailed a finger down her face. ‘Run the bookstore, if you want, but come back with me, please. Build a life with me.’

Her heart tumbled. Love, joy… explosions of both detonated inside her until she felt she might burst with happiness. It was almost too much to take in. The fact he’d travelled all the way over to see her, endured meeting her parents, found someone to make her a bookworm key ring. God, she was going to cry. Not pretty tears but great hulking waterworks that would make a red blotchy mess of her face.

* * *

Liam was about to have a heart attack. There was no way his body could cope with the pace the organ was currently pumping.

‘Say something,’ he croaked out. ‘You’re killing me here. Oh fuck, not tears.’ His heart plummeted. ‘I don’t know what tears mean. Please, Jade. Shit.’ He wrapped his arms around her, crushing both her and the damn worm against his chest. ‘Tell me you’re okay.’

She sniffed. ‘I’m not okay.’ He reared back, only to find her giving him a watery smile. ‘Okay is definitely not the right word for how I feel. Okay is a middle-of-the-road word. It’s like “fine”, and I’m not fine. I’m far from fine or okay.’

‘Jade,’ he warned. ‘I’m on edge here.’

Her smile grew wider, though alarmingly the tears kept gushing down her cheeks. ‘I’m not fine, you muppet, because I’m friggingecstatic. Euphoric, elated, and probably a bunch of other e words I can’t think of right now because I’m soexcited.’ The smile she shot him pulled the breath from his lungs. ‘I’m utterly and completely in love with a man who loves me back. A man who’s flown across the Atlantic to give me the most beautiful, thoughtful gift I’ve ever received. Aside from my teapot, obviously.’ She looked down, fingers fondling the worm, and sniffed again. ‘Your signal, your grand gesture to come here, it was amazing, but you had me at the icebreaker.’

‘I did? I have?’ He was too shocked to fully take it in. ‘You don’t need time to think about it?’ What the fuck was he doing? ‘Forget that. Don’t think any more. I’m taking your first answer.’ He rested his head against her forehead, his whole body settling, relaxing for the first time in a week. ‘I love you, Jade Taylor. I have for a while now, ever since you gave me those audiobooks for Grandma. Probably before that. Even when you were fighting me, I was falling for you.’ He touched his lips to hers, felt the tingle of it shoot down his spine. ‘I’m sorry I was too much of a coward to tell you before.’

‘We were both burned by the past, both wary of giving away our hearts.’

His mouth found hers again and this time he felt the urgency, the pulse of lust along with love. The need to claim her not just with words, but with action. ‘Can we get away from here?’

‘Um.’ She kissed him back, her tongue tangling with his, her hands sliding down his chest before slipping open a few buttons. ‘Where did you have in mind?’

Her fingers found his bare skin and he hissed out a breath. ‘My hotel room.’ He lifted her up, hands beneath her butt, and when she wrapped her legs around him, he walked them to the wall and thrust his hips against her, making them both moan. ‘Need to get out of here now, before your parents burst in and I lose the brownie points I gained from two helpings of stew.’

She giggled, pushing her own hips against his and causing him to harden even further. He was in her parents’ front room, and so close to losing it he should be ashamed, but he was too fucking happy to care.

For a few minutes they made out, his hands tangling in her hair, their hips doing a rhythmic dance. Finally, he drew back, groaning with frustration as she slid slowly down him and onto the floor.

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