Her stunning features contorted. Her eyes frowned with uncertainty. Red lips wobbled with indecision. “This isn’t something to joke about. I don’t find this funny. We hate each other. You can’t stand me. I bore you, remember? Don’t fuck with my feelings, Jared. I’m not going to play this game with you. It’s justcruel.”
“Stop discouraging everything I tell you. You know me well enough to grasp the gravity of my words. I’m not one to propose such a subject if I don’t mean it. I just wouldn’t.” My eyes implored. “I’m not one to indulge in wasting someone’s time. So, when I tell you I want you, I bloody well do. I know I promised to let you go once we step out of this plane, but I’m telling you now, I won’t be able to. I just fucking can’t. It’s just unfathomable to me, not when I’m gravely addictedtoyou.”
Her breath hitched. Gray eyes bared and open as she slowly gave me a glimpse of her soul, her heart. “If I say yes…if I do…will you move back into thehouse?”
My lips gently brushed against hers, needing a quick connection, like a glue to bind us together, before I brought my gaze to meet her intense stormy one. My decision had been cemented the moment I grasped the truth—that indulging in her body alone wouldn’t be enough any longer. I craved more depth, more laughter. There were layers of her I had yet to discover, and I hankered to know each one of them intimately. “I already did. It was done over theweekend.”
Her shocked expression was priceless. “What? I don’tunderstand.”
After all the mishaps I’d put her—us—through, I knew I had so much to prove and make up for. Either way, as long as she was with me, stayed with me, we would always find a way to compromise. “With or without a divorce, I made a decision last Thursday right after we had sex. I’m staying…withyou.”
“Oh.” Her voice trembled as she peered at me through her long lashes. “And Rose? Where does she fit in anyofthis?”
“Nowhere. This time, I’m permanently breaking things off with her. I'll see her first thing in the morning. No more other people. No more Rose. No more Wyatt. No more other men asking you for dates, and definitely no more giving your phone number away, Gisele. It’ll be just you and me, hand in hand, working it out, as it should’ve been from thestart.”
“This all seems surreal, Jared. I don’t know. Are you sure you're not just blinded by lust?” Her profound hesitation did little to sway my perseverance to see usthrough.
“I'm blinded by a lot of things, but I'm not blind to think that I can’t go on another day, hour without you,” I vehemently ground out, “Tell me you feel the same. I see it in your eyes. It's a reflection of mine. But I need to hear you say it. Tell me you need me just as I need you, Gisele.” My lips trailed kisses on her jawline as my half-mast member sprung to its fullgirth.
“Jared...” she moaned hopelessly as her body involuntarily responded to me. Slightly parting her thighs, my shaft lodged into her slick folds, enveloping it with her warmessence.
Christ…Would the time ever come when I wouldn’t want this body? I felt mental—out of my depth—but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was as if I had to connect with her, be it through touch, sex, kissing or through a quick gaze. I had to feel her in every sense of the word. It was the truest of form, in its most primal source, calling upon my primitive nature. It was embedded within. It was intrinsic.Animalistic.
“Say it, kitten,” I relentlessly pressed on. “Tell me you want me. Say you need me, Gisele.” I waited for a beat, but when she didn’t oblige, fear slowly grew. “Do you want to make this easy or the hard way? It doesn't matter. I want you, and I won't stop until you're mine again. So.Choose.”
She shook her head, hiding back a mischievous grin as her lips met my forehead. “In case it escaped your notice, Sir Genius, you're not giving me achoice."
Ah, well, she caught on fast. “More or less, kitten. I’m not ready to give upjustyet.”
“Why do you need to hear it? Nothing’s changed.” she shrugged, connecting the tip of her nose against mine, surrendering to the inevitable. “I want you, Jared St. James. Always have,alwayswill.”