He looks at me and his eyes swim with emotion that I’m sure is in my own gaze. Pulling me down by the back of my neck, he gives me a soft and tender kiss.
“I’m serious,” I mumble against his lips, barely keeping the grasp that holds the sheet to my chest.
“I know you are.” He nods and sighs. “I know you care. It’s just been a tough few months.”
“You’ve been at it for months?” I ask, not knowing how publishing a book or… anything at all, works.
“It takes a while sometimes.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
He takes me down to the bed, I squeal in surprise and he lies over me, I look up at him and that emotion, the one that’s been on the brink of bursting rests on the edge of my tongue.
“Just love me,” he whispers, almost like a confession.
My heart pounds in my chest and reaches for his heart.
“Okay,” I whisper back.
Both of us seem to be warring with our emotions, but without anything that needs to be said in the moment, we let ourselves express that newfound love in another way.
A really, really amazing way.
Chapter Thirty
“I still haven’t figured out how to sit across from you, and not be madly in love with everything you do.”
-William C. Hannan
Warren
Working in the mail room was becoming less and less appealing every day I went and didn’t get a moment alone with the woman I love.
I love her.
There was no denying that, even if I’d resisted that particular emotion for a while. But getting her to admit that back? Even if she hadn’t fully said the words themselves, that was the cherry on top of the feeling itself.
I, however, was getting more and more fed up with this job. Every time someone’s assistant to the assistant yelled at me for not getting something to them earlier, I wanted to throw my hands up and walk out.
But I had to make a living. I had to earn money doing this shit so that I could keep creating and working on my own… brand. I shuddered at the word.
Last game night, when Jane was working, Viviana had shown up and we’d talked marketing. After confessing to Jane what I’d been trying to do, it had given me another kick in the ass to get this shit going. To make it all a reality. Jane’s confidence in me and support had given me the boost I needed to keep pushing.
With Viviana’s advice, I’d started the whole social media thing. Keeping my face out of it, even if she had said “Babe, your face could sell art. Hell, itisart.” Much to my embarrassment and Archer’s annoyance.
Though, I was the only one who noticed that last little bit.
But despite Viviana’s praise and Jane’s agreement when I’d mentioned what she said, I was sure I didn’t want my face plastered all over my art sites, I wanted to keep the focus all on my work.
It was slow building though. And way harder than I wanted it to be, but in the end, it would be worth it. Being able to support myself and eventually build that life that Jane had described to me. Because the more I was with her, the more in love I fell, the more I wanted that to beourlife.
Maybe I was being presumptuous, getting ahead of myself. But as I sat there working on my art, drawing the portrait of the woman I couldn’t stop thinking of as she lounged on the couch, wrapped in my shirt and reading a book with her glasses on, I knew that this was it for me.
She was it for me.
I wasn’t letting her go.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked softly, adding in the details of her pouting lips.