“We should go back to my house,” I whispered.
“I’ve heard you have lovely marble countertops,” she whispered back. “Your mom told me all about it one day at the Sav-A-Lot.”
“Well, she’ll be able to tell you about the other features of the house once we get there,” I added, still whispering. “Because she’s been staying there.”
“Oh! We get to spend the night with your mom!”
I laughed, brushing my thumb over her lips. “I promise we’ll have plenty of room. And she won’t even hear an echo of your sexy cries, because we’ll stay in the guest house out back.” I brushed my lips over the line of her jaw, desperate for so much more. “What do you think about having your own design studio?"
She blinked a few times. "I think it sounds like a dream."
"Once you get your certificate.” I placed feathery kisses across her cheeks, down the center of her nose. “The building my brothers and I bought over the summer, from Margulis Realty—I’m thinking you could have an entire floor if you need it. I started working on some plans, but really, I want you to make the decisions. Since it’ll be yours.”
Jessa clamped her hands over her mouth, tears coming to her eyes. “Are you serious?”
“So serious.”
“Oh my god, Damian.” She pressed her palms to my chest. “You really are a dreamboat. Even more now than the time you put together shrimp cocktail for our romantic dinner.”
“I was hoping this might win over shrimp cocktail,” I said, pushing my palms over the swell of her hips, “but to be honest, I wasn’t sure. Sometimes, shrimp cocktail wins.”
She threw her head back, a peal of laughter erupting from her.
And all I could do was smile. Watching her, taking her in, loving every second of her in my arms.
Jessa was the only one for me. I’d known it some way, somehow, since high school. And now we were here making it official in the town where it’d all begun.
The old me would have called this too big of a risk, too dangerous to go after.
But now? I knew it for what it was.
Passion. The only risk worth taking.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
JESSA
White linen–covered tables filled the room, over sixty place settings awaiting their designated guests.
It was graduation day for my fashion class, but I hadn’t planned this party.
I hadn’t even conceived of it. I’d simply sat back and shown up.
“This place is fabulous,” Veronica said in a low voice, leaning over the table so I could hear her, the array of flickering candles in the middle of the table casting strange shadows on her face. “This is, like, the ritziest place I’ve ever been.”
I smiled at her, my gaze drifting to Damian as he headed our way across the event room. We had rented an entire famous fusion restaurant in the Garment District, just for one evening. Damian had wanted to celebrate my certificate, and in doing so, opted to celebrateallof us. He’d collaborated with Mr. Mitchell to bring this event to life. Graduates were allowed to bring guests, and all the students wore their best pieces—in my case, the black lace gown that I knew drove Damian crazy.
Which was why his bedroom eyes were out as he grew nearer.
A shiver of excitement raced up my spine. We’d been boyfriend and girlfriend for two months, and it still felt like we’d kissed on the playground swing a day ago.
“When Damian gets an idea, there’s no talking him out of it,” I told Veronica. “And when it comes to dinner ideas, he’s always got the best ones.”
Kendra stepped into the dining room a moment later, her eyes wide with wonder as she beheld the scene. I waved at her, which also caught the attention of Cora, who’d come in just in front of her.
My smile stretched so wide my cheeks hurt. I headed to greet the new arrivals, gliding effortlessly across the floor since I’d made the necessary alterations to the bottom of the dress. Trace stepped into the room just as I started a round of hugs.
“I’m so glad you could all make it,” I gushed, my gaze washing over everyone. These were, definitively,my peoplenow.