Page 68 of Unrivaled Love
Regrettably,Ibreakthekiss but it’s for a good reason. “Curl up here and read, I’ve gotta go do something.” I tell Jo and I can see the questions in her expression.
“What do you have to do?”
“Set up a surprise for you.”
“No more pranks.” She warns.
“It won’t be a prank. But I can’t promise you no more pranks forever.”
I lean down and kiss her again.
It tastes bitter sweet because we had to kiss away the pain we’ve caused each other.
Fuck it is frustrating to know she shut me out because of some stupid shit my roommate said. I had to battle myself not to lash out at her. It took every molecule of self-control I had. But when I saw the way her shoulders slumped and when she muttered the word “mistake” I sucked up my pride and pushed us through the shit.
I saw the weight lift from her shoulders. She’s carried this with her for too long.
Was it the right thing to air our grievances?
I mean I got to kiss her which is awesome and definitely worth it but she thought I didn’t believe in her all this time. For her entire professional career. She’s a driven person but will she lose some of her edge without this fire under her ass?
I’m afraid I’m losing some of my drive after winning The Cup. What if I can’t do it again?
I shake my head because already I know; anything I do in my life from here on out will be with Jo Hamilton by my side. That will make it better than anything I did without her.
***
Turns out setting up a tent is a lot of work. I’m sweating, like, a lot, and it took way longer than I thought it would. But I think Jo is going to appreciate this.
She better.
I hope the time she had to relax and read while I was gone helped her feel better.
I’m not going to dwell on the fucking miscommunication that kept us apart all these years. I’m not going to hold a grudge. I’m going to do everything I can to make her remember how good we are together.
Help her envision how good it could be.
She doesn’t hear me come up the stairs to the deck. I get a moment to spy on her as she reads. Her brow is knit in concentration, maybe agitation, and she’s biting her nail. She turns the page and the hand she was nibbling on slaps down onto the page.
“What are you doing?”
She jumps. “Jesus! Bryson, you can’t sneak up on me like that!”
“But why did you slap the book?”
“Because I didn’t want my eyes to read ahead.”
“They can do that?” I ask, because why would she skip ahead?
“They get curious. This helps.”
I laugh and sit down next to her. “Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.” I nod at the book and as she goes back to reading I pull her feet into my lap. She smiles and looks up at me over the pages and I shoo her back to her story.
I watch her eyes dance along the text and the sweet inhales of shock at the words on the page.
“I cannot believe Flora just swallowed the poison. Is this going to be like Romeo and Juliet?”
“There’s a lot of book left.” I say because I won’t spoil it for her.
