Page 87 of Don't Remind Me
“Hi,” he said, the flicker of the candlelight dancing in his eyes.
“Hi,” I said back, my lips rising.
“You’re breathtaking.”
My smile deepened. “You’re rather impressive yourself.”
“Impressing you was the goal.”
“You always have.”
His lips twitched as he glanced away, and I swore I saw a blush creep into his cheeks.
He cleared his throat. “For a while, I didn’t think that was possible. For me to impress you.” He flicked his gaze up to mine, then down again. “Not after you’d been with Alec. Beenin lovewith him.”
I squeezed my napkin in my lap to keep from reaching across the table, craving that connection. For him to be able to feel straight through my skin to my soul and know how I felt about him.
“I was afraid you’d compare me to him and be disappointed,” he continued. “But I’m trying this thing where I believe people when they tell me things. Trust what they say over my own self-doubts.”
“I did compare you to him,” I admitted.
His stare locked with mine.
I took a breath to find the right words. “At first, I mostly noticed your similarities, which was annoying since all I wanted to do was forget he existed and you made that impossible.”
He swallowed but held my gaze, his chest rising and falling with deep breaths. I needed him to hear this.
“But the more time I spent with you, the more obvious it became all the ways you’re different. And the more I found myself relieved. Not because I wasn’t thinking about Alec anymore, but because I finally felt free to be myself.”
I hadn’t even realized I’d been missing that before. Hadn’t noticed how empty my life had been until Jase helped me fill it.
“It was being with you that helped me understand why I broke up with Alec in the first place,” I said. “Because being with you was easy in a way that being with him never was.” I wouldn’t have ever come to that conclusion nine years ago. Never would have classified Alec as anything other than perfect. But that didn’t mean he was perfect for me.
I didn’t know that Jase was perfect for me either. Perfect wasn’t a standard I was aiming for anymore. But I did know all the things I loved about Jase. All the ways I appreciated him. And in all our time together, I’d never once wished any of those things was more like Alec.
“I did love your brother,” I said honestly. “But I didn’t love myself when I was with him. I didn’tacceptmyself when I was with him.”
I’d hidden. Like I’d been hiding most of my life, too afraid of the possibility of rejection from my parents or bosses, or anyone else I’d deemed important, to dare show my real self.
Until Jase.
“You make me feel seen like no one has before. You make trusting myself easy. Make being myself the most natural thing in the world.” My eyes burned, and I tilted my head to blink away the tears before looking at Jase again. “I’m grateful for what I had with Alec, but never, ever, would I choose it over what I have with you.”
“I love you,” he said, voice low and thick, the full force of his emotion pouring into the words.
My breath shuddered, and I stood, dropping my napkin on my seat before rounding the table, his eyes soaking me in every step of the way.
He slid back his chair as I reached him, enough that I could settle onto his lap and pull his face to mine.
It was an eager, needy kiss, my mouth hungry for his, determined to make up for the days apart, to show him what no words could ever truly say. I pulled back just enough to say them anyway, my lips brushing his as I did. “I love you.”
His lips quirked as they pressed to mine in a lingering kiss, neither of us closing our eyes.
“Let’s eat,” he whispered, grazing his nose against mine. “We have a lot to celebrate. And I still owe you a dance.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jase
