Page 32 of Return to Us
“Hey.”
She tucks her head and smiles. “Hey.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Much better. No headaches, and I slept well.”
“Good,” I say, feeling relief. “Are you ready to start work again?”
She nods. “Yeah, I’m excited and a little nervous, but . . . mostly excited.”
After her headache episode, I told Stella I wanted to start this off slow. She’s working five half days this week. We’ll ease her in and it gives us both the assurance she’ll be able to handle it. As much as she says she’ll tell me if something is wrong, I remember all too well her stubborn side.
This is a safeguard. Plus, Stella owes me a few weekends of covering the inn.
“I’m glad you’re excited. Hopefully you sleep well tonight.”
Jessica turns her head, but I catch the slight blush on her cheeks.
Delia grabs Jack’s coffee cup and finishes it. “Speaking of sleep, I could use a week to catch up with how tired I am. But I think we’re heading to your beach house this weekend, so that will help.”
“Who is?”
“Stella invited us a few weeks ago,” Jess says quickly. “I guess she was going with Winnie, but she ended up having to work this weekend, so she said we should go. Is that okay?”
I blink a few times, trying to shove down the lump in my throat. “Yeah. No. I didn’t know.”
The beach house.
“This place is beautiful, Gray.” Jessica smiled as she walked around the room.
“It’s private.”
Her eyes met mine as she traced a finger over her collarbone. “It is, which I guess is what we both want, right?”
I just wanted her. God, I wanted her so fucking much. I didn’t know how I got lucky enough to convince her to love me, but she did, and I wouldn’t ever let her go. Tonight, I wanted to make her happy, give her everything, and show her how I felt.
“Jess, we don’t have to,” I said, praying she didn’t change her mind. “We can just spend the weekend on the beach.”
She moved toward me, her gown swaying with each step. “We don’t have to do anything, but I really want to.”
Tonight was the perfect night. We danced, laughed, and I had the most beautiful prom date in the world. Every guy there was staring at her, hating and envying me. I didn’t blame them, Jessica was perfect and she was mine.
I wanted to marry her. I wanted to spend every day of my life with her because she was everything I’d ever hoped for. I had known it the first time I saw her.
Tonight, I planned to make love to her and show her just how good we were together.
I pulled her close so her delicate hands rested on my chest. “Do you feel that?”
“Your heart is beating so fast.”
“Because I’m just as nervous.”
Her dark lashes rested on her cheeks as she chewed on her lip. “What do you have to be nervous about?”
Everything. It was both of our first time. I didn’t want to hurt her or scare her.
“Making this good for you,” I confessed.
