Jade sat there, shocked. Joshua had put himself out there, shown his face, for her. He loved her that much?
There was a soft rap at her door. Jade looked down at her rumpled sundress and couldn’t imagine how bad her hair looked.
Walking slowly to the door, she looked out the peephole. Joshua stood there, his face distorted by the peephole, but he still looked so handsome to her. She closed her eyes, muttered a prayer for help, pushed a hand through her hair, and swung the door open.
Joshua gave her a brave smile and raised a hand. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She stared at him, drinking him in. Had it only been yesterday since she’d seen him? She’d missed him desperately. Could she really forgive him, give him a chance? She wanted to. She wanted to so much. Gesturing at her counter and the open laptop, she said, “You’ve been busy.”
He pushed a hand at his hair and gave a grunt of what might have been a laugh. “Yeah. I had a lot of help.”
“Teal is in a lot of trouble.”
His smile grew. “She’s great. Her and Stetson were just … awesome.”
“They are. Who else helped?”
“My sister, Rachel. She had all the ideas, helped me get ahold of Teal, broke into your website with Teal’s help guessing passwords.”
Jade shook her head. “So, should I be impressed?”
Joshua lifted his hands in an innocent and incredibly appealing gesture. “I don’t want to impress you, Jade. I want to love you.”
Jade got chills. She took in a steadying breath and said, “So I’m just supposed to forgive you?”
He shrugged. “I hope you can. I realize I made a lot of mistakes but I … did you see the email I sent before Gabe revealed he was the perpetrator?”
She nodded. “Yes.” Swallowing hard, she admitted, “Thank you for trusting me before the truth came out.”
“I wish I would’ve sooner.” He pushed at his hair. “I’m so sorry I lied and hurt you. Please let me earn your trust back Jade. Please.”
Jade couldn’t take it any longer. She flung herself at him. Joshua stuttered back in surprise but he quickly recovered, wrapping her up tight in his arms and giving her the hug she’d been longing for.
She reached up and framed her face with his hands. “I haven’t forgiven you yet,” she said.
Joshua’s eyes widened but he said, “That’s okay, I realize that might take some time.”
“But I love you.”
He smiled.
“And I can’t stand to be away from you for one more minute.”
She didn’t give him a chance to respond but yanked his face toward her and kissed him. She kissed him desperately and he responded with all the love he claimed to have for her. Jade felt all the pain and heartache leak away as they kissed. It might take her some time to completely forgive him, but these three men rolled into one weretheone for her. Oh, how she loved Joshua Jesse James, her priest.