Page 58 of Forever Fickle

He also needed to let things settle a little bit before he revealed any of his plans, just in case something changed between him and Karen. He knew he was all in… but he was also a realist.

This was his first attempt at a relationship – much less a long-distance one with a skittish woman that held his very heart. She was worried about being hurt by him… but he was starting to realize that the tables could very well turn on him in an instant.

“You almost ready, Karen?”

“Yes,” she said, flashing a smile at him nervously. “Wow. This is…”

Her voice trailed off as she smiled at him shyly.

“Wonderful?” he said hopefully, holding out his hand to her as he realized that this was probably the best way a man could ever wake up in the world… just near the woman he loved.

“Amazing,” she confirmed softly, smiling up at him, as he leaned down to kiss her. Just feeling her against him, in his arms, breathing her air, made his soul swell in recognition as something in him recognized the very essence of her.

“Let’s get going,” he breathed against her lips. “I have so much to say ‘thank you’ for when I pray today.”

“Me too,” she smiled.

* * *

Jace stoodbeside Karen proudly in the pew, holding her hand as they sang from the hymnal together. He was touched that their lives seemed to blend so well and so many things were going through his mind with such clarity and focus as he stood there.

He needed to figure out how to coordinate a trip to see his family with Karen – and then talk to Alpo, Thumper, and the other pilots to see what the next steps were.

His mind was skipping around like a scared rabbit… yet he wasn’t frightened at all. In fact, the ideas rolling around in his head had him more invigorated than ever before.

No, he would keep his thoughts to himself, planning silently, just to make sure word didn’t reach Karen until he was ready.

He didn’t want his little pixie to fly away.

Looking down at her, he saw her glowing smile and felt his heart turn over in his chest. Yep, there was zero fear in his mind as he realized that he was about to turn his entire life upside down and inside out, in the most wonderful way possible.

CHAPTER16

KAREN

Sunday

Karen obviously had bumped her head or wasn’t thinking in the slightest, because this was all complete and total insanity – of the best kind.

Sitting there in the pew beside Jace, silently listening to the sermon, she realized that the moment she’d quit fighting everything in her, in her world, and Jace… it was like the universe breathed out a sigh of relief and suddenly fell into place in an accordion-like movement.

Each thing, each movement, had a response, an answer, that just fit.

If someone had told her a week ago that she would cozy up to some pilot, some stranger, and find herself drawn to his side inexplicably, sleeping the last two nights innocently in his arms just to hold him close?

She would have laughed riotously – and then asked them to share whatever hallucinogenic they’d obviously snorted before having this crazy conversation.

Yet… here Jace was, beside her, and he just fit.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something in her that recognized him, despite how she fought it. He smiled and the room seemed brighter. He urged her not to be afraid to fly with him – and she wasn’t. If she was scared, he quietly comforted her in a way that she accepted instead of fighting it.

And that kiss?

It was indescribable at how right it felt – and how everything seemed to go from chaotic to ordered, the moment she let down her guard. His hand felt warmer, she felt closer, and there was a sense of ‘home’ that she’d only begun to recognize being with him.

Even her mother’s surprise at her dating someone like Jace hadn’t really bothered her as much as she expected it to – simply because he’d stepped forward to claim Karen, cementing it between them.

How was she going to say goodbye to this sense of completion?

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