“Hey…” he whispered tenderly, smiling at her. “Our first date doesn’t have to be our last.”
“This isn’t our first date,” she smiled, reminding him.
“Well, I just witnessed something magical – or at least to me it was,” he scoffed, pointing at the water. “So to me, this was our first date.”
“Fine,” she laughed easily, leaning up to kiss his jawline and hugging him. “First dates are magical.”
“Darn straight they are…” he groused, but his smile said differently.
She stood there for a moment beside the plane, looking at him, feeling so much emotion and seeing it reflected in his eyes, that she hesitated.
“Thank you again,” she breathed softly.
“Always, my love,” he whispered. “You don’t have to decide now, but when we see each other again? I’m going to whisk you away once more, just so I can be alone with you.”
“Should I get a bigger tent?” she smiled.
“Heck no,” he grinned. “How else do I get to spoon the woman I adore all night long if I can stretch out?”
Mary couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled from her at his playfulness, and heard his own join in with hers.
“In fact…” he whispered softly. “Shut your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Mary…” he drawled pointedly, and she smiled, dutifully doing so. As she stood there, she heard him fidgeting with something and felt him step away.
“How long should I stand here? And what are you even up to?”
“Hold your horses…” he grumbled. “It’s teensy and… well, I’ve got big hands, and they are shaking something fierce.”
“Do you need help?”
“No, keep your eyes closed.”
“They are…” Mary caught her breath as something cold touched her breastbone and lay against her skin. “What are you… Jax?”
“Perfect,” he said tenderly. “Open your eyes.”
She did so and saw him standing there before her, looking at her with so much longing that she nearly forgot that something was against her skin… only to reach down and touch it.
A tiny gold hourglass was suspended on a chain.
Mary looked up at Jax quickly, stunned.
“You are worth the wait,” he said hoarsely, looking at her. “No matter how long it takes, I am coming back to you. There is never one moment that you are not in my thoughts. I want you to think of me when I’m gone, and you see this…”
His voice trailed off as he stared at her, blinking several times.
“I wish there was some way that I could tell you how much you mean to me without scaring you… but I’m here, Mary,” he said softly. “Breathe. Trust the process. Let me be the one you turn to, even if I’m on the other side of the world, and however long it takes? I will be waiting to return to your side.”
She felt something in her crumbling, realizing that he was saying goodbye in a fashion, needing to make sure she didn’t forget him. She put her face in her hands and couldn’t help the tears that overflowed as she stepped forward blindly into his arms.
“Oh sweetheart,” he crooned softly. “I never meant to make you cry. I promise. I just wanted to make you feel special…”
They stood there, holding each other, as she felt him kiss her snarled hair, not even caring what she looked like, because none of it mattered. His soul was speaking directly to hers, bypassing anything physical that either of them could be. The body was a shell – and while kissing and touching was physical… he was reaching her soul, loving her in a way that only a soulmate could.
There would never be anyone else for her – and she knew it with such clarity and intensity that she couldn’t fight it anymore.