Page 102 of Forever Fickle

Karen looked at Jace, who looked awfully uncomfortable in that moment, and she hesitated. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and sat there, waiting.

“I forgot that I agreed to go shopping with the two of them and…” Karen began and hesitated. “Are you mad?”

“I’m not keen on my parents catching us – even if it’s completely innocent,” Jace admitted. “I don’t want to do anything that will change their outlook on either of us…”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be sneaking in here,” she countered, feeling exceptionally guilty in that moment, because she liked being held by Jace for hours at a time – and this had been his idea – not hers.

“No, probably not,” he admitted, looking over his shoulder to smile at her where she sat, clenching her robe. “But I can’t stay away from you, nor am I giving up my chance to hold the woman I love.”

“They’re going to know,” Karen said softly, looking at him in the darkness of the room, only illuminated by a nightlight on the wall. “Especially if they knock on your door, too.”

To her horror, she heard the knock in that moment and met Jace’s eyes. Only seconds later, it sounded on her door again.

“Jace? We want to talk to you, son.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, causing Karen’s mouth to drop open in shock.

“You didn’t have to say anything giving away your location…” she hissed softly, yanking the chain on the small lamp next to the bed.

“My sister caught me yesterday,” he admitted, smiling. “Besides, I wouldn’t change any of this for the world… except my timing. Funny how it always comes down to timing, isn’t it?”

“Are your parents going to be mad or think something else was going on beneath their noses?”

“Have youseenmy jammies?” he grinned, chuckling easily. “I’ll handle all of this and meet you in the kitchen in a bit. Please don’t worry about a thing.”

Jace stood up, stretched, and she couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips as she realized that her beloved Gingerbread man would always be there for her.

“You know,” she said softly, causing him to turn around. “You make those jammies look incredibly sexy…”

His eyes grew smoldering as he looked at her and her playful comment.

“Don’t ever get rid of them?”

“Nope,” she grinned. “They are certainly growing on me.”

“I love you,” he uttered softly, pulling her to her feet and kissing her hand where his ring lay. “And I have an incredibly crazy idea that just popped into my head.”

“Crazier than sneaking around the house in childlike jammies?”

“Much,” he smirked tenderly, dropping her hand and reaching out to cup her face. “What if…”

He hesitated and looked at her, his eyes incredibly warm and full of emotion as he opened his mouth to speak again, the words so soft she had to strain to hear them.

“What if we got married now… and celebrated renewing our vows next year, at this time? We could have the best of both worlds, still have our marriage blessed, it would give me time to get out of the Air Force, and…”

“Yes,” she interrupted, staring at him in awareness of what he was saying.

This would change everything. It would change her name, remove some of the pressures, still give them a chance to celebrate… twice… and they would still have the wedding that meant so much to them.

“You don’t mind?” he whispered, smiling nervously. “I don’t have anything planned, and we’d have to wait on taking our honeymoon, plus we both fly back to our prospective corners in two days…”

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” she admitted. “And it’s…”

“Jace Marcus Sorensen…”

Both froze hearing Jace’s name spoken firmly by his father at her door. Jace smiled at her nervously and she nodded, before reaching up to kiss him quickly.

“Go…” she breathed.

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