Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “You should have talked to me, Jack. I’m a fully grown adult and I get to decide the compromises I’m prepared to make. Not you.”
He huffs out of half laugh. “Yes,” he says. “You’re right.” His shoulders drop like he’s just thrown off some of his burden. “It won’t happen again. I’ll never let you go. If you’re unhappy, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
I know Jack to his bones and I know he means what he’s saying. I don’t doubt him. I don’t doubt us.
“So if you’re not tied to Colorado… this means…” He takes my hand. “I’m not sure what this means.”
“I’m not sure either. But even if I don’t have to work on the farm, I’m still a small-town girl from Colorado who’s never going to be from a family with the right connections.”
“I don’t care about any of that stuff, and now I don’t care what my mother thinks about any of that stuff. Or any of New York society. None of it matters here in Colorado. We can stay protected from it all right here.” He shifts closer to me. “I thought I could go back to New York and eventually forget you. I knew how I felt about you, but I thought I could get on with my life and I could get back to normal. One day. Now I know that’s impossible.
“You’ve changed me.
“It’s like I’ve been cracked open and reborn. There’s no going back.
“I can’t go back.
“I won’t go back.
“Nothing my mother or New York society can say will change that. If New York doesn’t want you, as perfect as you are, then I don’t want New York. We’ll build a life together in Colorado.”
“Your mother said New York wouldn’t want me?”
Jack shrugs. “She said a lot of things that don’t matter.” I think he might understand her concerns if he talks to her and she tells him the truth. “What does matter is I want you. Wherever you are. Whatever you’re doing. If I’m with you, nothing else matters.”
My heart feels so full that my entire chest might explode.
Jack came back to me.
And he’s back for good.
He lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, gazing down at him as he holds me. “I’ll follow you wherever you want to go.” I press a kiss to his lips.
His gaze darts from my eyes to my lips and back up again. “I’m so in love with you.”
“The feeling’s mutual.”
Our lips crash together and finally I feel like I’m home.
I’ve lived in Star Falls, in the same family home, since I’ve been born… but I never feel more at home than I do when I’m with Jack.
We fit perfectly together. Soul mates. My entire heart. The love of my life.
“I love you,” I say between breathy kisses.
“I love you too,” he says on a groan. “Will you ever forgive me for letting you go?”
“Only completely and utterly,” I say. I think I’d forgive the beautiful, gracious, sweet man in front of me anything. Absolutely anything. “As long as you don’t do it again.”
“Never.” His words burrow into my heart and tattoo themselves deep in my chest.
A horn blares out of nowhere, and I’m brought back to the reality that we’re reconciling in the middle of a road. There’s the bus on its way back up the mountain. I’m blocking its path.
“Back to Wilde’s Farm,” I say as he releases me. “Be careful,” I add. “The roads are slippery.” I want to keep him close to me. He doesn’t know these roads like I do.
“I’ll be fine,” he says as I get back into my car. “U-turn here and follow me back.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere, Jack Alden,” I call after him.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Jack
The last thing I want to do is see my mother right now, but Iris’s asked me to speak to her, and I’ll do anything for Iris, so we’ve come back to the house. As we head up the porch steps, I take her hand. I can’t get close enough to her.
“Jack!”
I hear my mother’s voice before I see her. I scan the room and see her standing at the kitchen table, a tissue in her hand. She brings it to her face and stifles a sob. “I thought something had happened to you.” She shakes her head. “I would have never forgiven myself.”
Iris slides her hand from mine and sweeps it across my back. “I’m going to make hot chocolate for everyone.”
I just want to go up to the Colorado Club and get Iris naked, eat with her, drink with her, watch the valley and the town of Star Falls from halfway up the mountain with her.
The last thing I want to do is have hot chocolate with my mother.
But if that’s what Iris wants, then that’s what I’ll do. I want to make her happy, and I’m going to spend a lifetime making up for the fact I ever walked away from her.