Page 105 of Save You
“I trust Cy,” James adds.“You can rely on him in this kind of stuff.”
I eye him skeptically, but in the end I nod.“OK.”
James glances down the landing and then looks back to me.I reach for his hand and tug gently, and we walk together to his room.
When we get there, I sit down on his king-size bed.
“Is Lydia doing better now?”James asks, slipping off his jacket and loosening his tie.Then he drops down beside me.
“Yeah,” I reply pensively.“I think so.Mr.Sutton called her and they talked a while.”
James doesn’t seem to know what to make of that.He exhales audibly and rubs his forehead.
“What’s wrong?”
He grunts.“I don’t want Lydia to get into trouble.I just don’t know how to stop all the secrets collapsing in on themselves like a house of cards.”
“They won’t,” I say softly, leaning forward to touch him.I feel a need to comfort him when he looks like this, and I wish I could do more than just stroke his cheek.
James looks at me, his eyes dark.“I’d do anything for the people I love.”
I stroke my fingers further down his throat.Hold the nape of his neck in my hand, rub my thumb along his hairline.“I know.”
“That includes you, Ruby.”
I pause in mid-gesture and gulp hard.Suddenly, there’s a lump in my throat that I can’t swallow down.
“I love you,” he whispers.
There’s so much emotion in his voice, along with so much pain that, for a brief moment, I don’t think I can breathe.
But the next instant, my body reacts to his admission as if by itself.I lean forward until I’m kneeling on the bed and level with James.Tenderly, I lower my mouth to his and kiss him, just fleetingly.
“I love you too, James,” I whisper back, resting my brow against his.
I hear James breathe in.“Really?”
I nod and kiss him again.
It’s only meant to be another brief kiss—but then James putsa hand on the back of my head and what began gently is soon more.I lose my balance and fall sideways, onto the soft down.James doesn’t break off the kiss, even for a second.All the words I still want to say vanish from my tongue as James parts my lips with his.I sigh gently.
This time, when he pulls away, we’re both breathless.
“Thank you for being here for us both today,” he murmurs.
We’re lying on our sides, our faces turned to each other.James gently strokes upward from my waist, lays his hand on my rib cage.He’s drawing little patterns on my skin.
I still remember exactly what it felt like the first time he touched me—it felt like his fingers were burning through my clothes, right onto my skin.And it’s the same now, as his hand travels down again, coming to rest on my thigh.
“Thank you for letting me be there for you,” I whisper, stroking a strand of his red-blond hair off his forehead.I could run my hands through his hair forever; I love the way it feels under my fingers.
We lie there in silence.The only thing I can hear is our even breathing.We can’t let each other go.I have to touch James the whole time, as if I’m making it clear to myself that this, here and now, is reality.That we really have found our way back to each other, and that this new, ever-growing trust exists between us.
I fight against it, but eventually, my eyelids are so heavy that I can barely hold them open.James is there when I fall asleep, one hand in mine, the other nestled gently in my hair.
30
Ruby
