Page 54 of The Likelihood Of You

The corners of his mouth spiked, sending star-dusted butterflies to every corner of my body. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not then.” I didn’t have time to bask in how beautifully my heart sank before he spoke again. “Before I met you, the girl I loved left me.” He admitted, gently grabbing my hands that I didn’t realise were shaking, but babbling tends to do that to me.

“Oh God, Jacob, I’m so sorry,” I said, brushing my thumb over the icy skin of his hand.

“It was a while ago, a few months before I met you, actually. Her name was Darcie, and it turned out that she was only with me for my name, never me. It was all some big scheme for her career, and it worked.” He took a breath, before squeezing my hands. “When I met you, I thought you’d be just like her, and I was scared because you were such a sweet talker. I was scared that this gorgeous girl in front of me was only after the same things Darcie was. But I knew, the more I got to see who you really were, that you were different."

He staggered in a breath before continuing.

“What I’m trying to say is that I know how hard it is to trust these feelings after getting your heart broken. I didn’t want to fall for you, but when I realised that, it was too late. Because I think I fell for you the second you looked at me. So baffled and completely unaware of who you were talking to, but so quietly beautiful that I hoped I’d find you again, and luckily I did.”

In a movement that felt so natural by this point, I felt his hand brush away the few tears that had fallen while his voice held me in sweet captivity, making every silly doubt I’d had about us get caught by the breeze, and whisked away forever.

“When you were avoiding me, all I could think about was whether I’d gone too far by kissing you.”

“I kissed you first—”

“And you have no idea how much I wanted to do it again.” His thumb skated over my cheek once again.

“Florence Dayes, you have no idea how quickly your smile makes me forget every bad thing that’s ever happened to me. How warm you make my heart feel like it’s never once known pain. How badly I want to see your dreams take flight. How much you inspire me to be the person who makes that giggle slip from your lips every day.” Our faces were so close he could claim my lips as his right now, but I wanted to hear whatever pretty words were going to fall out of his next.

“And if you need time to figure out what your heart wants, then I’ll wait…I’ll wait for the heart that’s reminded mine of how magic life can be.”

In that moment, I said a silent thank you to the universe, for putting me on this planet at the same time as Jacob Emerson. Thanking whatever invisible force that had carefully weaved and tangled our paths together, so completely and entirely perfectly.

There were so many words circling my head at that moment, words validating the weeks I’d spent hiding away from the truth, words that told me I was right to hesitate. That I was right to question every careful step I took, that led me away from my true reasons for being here. Each second I spent overthinking myself to death, was time well spent.

Without it, I wouldn’t be ready to tell Jacob that I didn’t need time, and my mind was already made up about us. I dropped my headand slipped my hand from his, drying my eyes carefully, and putting a genuine smile on my face, then looking into his cosy eyes again.

“I’ve waited long enough for somebody who sees me, my dreams, how much they mean to me.” My icy hands cupped his chin. “I don’t want to waste another second while that somebody is sitting right in front of me.”

His cheeks puffed, and his dimples deepened, which struck a match on that bonfire that had frozen over. “Are you sure?” He asked me, his hand curling up to embrace my jaw, and inching our faces closer.

“Yeah… I’m letting myself fall.”

The corners of his mouth peeked up, his eyes existing in that soft glow I dreamed about. “Well then, just know I’ll be waiting for you when you reach the bottom.”

This man and his mouth.

After we mirrored each other smiles, and basked in the realisation that this was happening, it wasn’t long before both of his hands were cupping my face, and his lips were parted, eager to take my mouth, which they did, ever so softly.

Unlike our last kiss, this one was slower, painfully short and beautifully sweet, like we were making up for lost time, and reminding ourselves of how amazing this felt. I let my hands grip the bulk of his shirt, tugging on it softly, and just enough that his hands slid into my hair, giving me a full-body blush.

It didn’t take long for us to slow down, the cold air kindly reminded us that it was still breaching winter, and if we didn’t go back inside soon, we’d freeze like this, which, truthfully, didn’t sound so awful. Jacob walked before us, taking my hand and leading me back into the party’s warmth.

“Should we mention…us…to Addy and Nate?” I asked as he ushered me in and closed the door behind me.

He turned his head to the door that led back to where Addy and Nate were, and only then did I wonder what they’d been doing while we were gone. “Maybe we just keep this our thing until everyone’s sober, not that they’d freak out, because they love you, but I’d rather save us from being ambushed by questions.” He said, tucking a curl behind my ear. “Shall we head back in?”

I gave Jacob a nod, before he quickly bent down and branded my forehead with a quick kiss, and right then, I felt weightless, and lucky, and so blissfully…right.

This…this feeling right here…this was what I came here for.

Chaptertwenty

Jacob

Life lately felt like a dream, and that was all thanks to the girl I kissed under the stars two weeks ago, the one who confessed that she was falling for me. She wanted to fall forme.

It would have been stupid of me not to fess up, too, and luckily, she didn’t immediately check when the next flight home was when I did.

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