Alyssa Gerard had found a way through the barriers guarding his heart, and now what once was broken was whole again. He caressed her body, but though he felt desire, he also felt peace. There wasn’t a burning need to possess her now, because he knew that he already did possess her in the most important way a man could possess a woman.
He loved her. And he had no doubt that she loved him, too. He could easily spend the rest of his life with this woman and never grow tired of her. Never lose his passion for her, never lose his interest in her. That was what true love was.
Yes, a couple needed to work at a marriage, at a relationship. But what the two of them had was something that wasn’t easily defined, wasn’t easily placed into a nice box with a ribbon on top. What the two of them had would be a crime to throw away.
“I can’t ever let you go, Alyssa,” he whispered into her ear. Even with this knowledge harbored deep in his heart, he found himself struggling to express his innermost feelings.
“What if I’m not yours to hold on to?” she asked. From the tone of her voice, he couldn’t tell what she was thinking or feeling. Was it animosity, or was she simply trying to make a point?
Jackson had his own point to make. “You want to be held,” he said, and to prove that, he slid his hands gently up her stomach, and then he cupped her beautiful, lush breasts and used his thumbs to graze the perfect red nipples as they hardened for him. She gasped, and her head fell against his neck as she sighed at the sensations he was sending through her healing body.
“Just because you can turn me on doesn’t mean I’m yours to keep,” she said huskily. But she scooted closer, and her exquisite derrière rubbed against his growing arousal.
“Tell me this, my lovely Alyssa: Have you ever wanted to lie in a tub full of scented water with another man while he caressed your body?”
She sighed again as he continued lavishing attention on her breasts. He waited for her answer.
“No,” she finally said.
He would keep this about feelings and emotion. He wouldn’t turn this into sex—he couldn’t. Her body was in no way ready for that. But he suspected that he’d have to remind himself of that several times. With great reluctance, he moved his hands away from her breasts and ran them again down her stomach.
“Don’t touch me there,” she said, squirming.
“Where?”
“My stomach. I’m . . . it’s . . . the baby flab . . .” She stopped and he saw color suffuse her cheeks.
His hands stopped on her stomach as he sat there in shock.
“You’re even more beautiful now than the first time I met you, Alyssa.”
“I’m not, Jackson. I just had a baby. I’ve been in bed for two weeks. My body . . .”
Jackson carefully stood and moved in front of her, then sat so she was facing him. With deliberate motions, he lifted both of her legs over his own, then pulled her onto his lap, thankful that his body was behaving, though he doubted it would be long before it acted up again. He gazed steadily into her eyes as he took time to touch every part of her.
“You need to hear what I’m saying now, Alyssa. You are even more beautiful than the first night I met you. The shape of your hips, the curve of your stomach, the fullness of your breasts, the sparkle in your eyes. All of that shows me that you carried my child, that you delivered her. I can’t see a single thing wrong with your body, and it’s taking every ounce of willpower that I possess not to sink deep inside you right this second. The only reason I’m holding back is because you need to heal. It might kill me, but I’ll wait until your body is ready for me.”
He gave her a smile as he rubbed against her, his erection back and fully ready. A small smile tilted her lips upward.
“Jackson, I lied to you by not telling you the truth. I . . . I’ve held back. Why are you being so good to me?”
“Because I love you.”
He didn’t need to make a speech, didn’t need to go the hearts-and-flowers route, done up with ribbons and bows and greeting-card sentiments. He loved her. It was simple and it was powerful.
Tears filled her eyes and spilled over as she sat against him, as his hands smoothed up and down her body, as they said so much with nothing but a look between them.
“I love you, too, Jackson.”
Finally. No more barriers stood between them. Nothing would stand in the way of their making a life together. They would wait until their daughter was ready to leave the hospital, and then they would bring her back and turn his house into a real home. They would stay together forever.
He leaned forward and captured her lips, his kiss tender, his touch showing her how much he loved her. It was the kind of love that was meant to last a lifetime and beyond.
“How did I get so lucky as to meet you in Paris, to find you on the very day that my life was falling apart?” she said when he released her lips and allowed them both to come up for air.
“No, Alyssa. I’m the one who got lucky that day. I met a beautiful, stubborn, brilliant woman, and I get to spend the rest of my life with her.”
And then he kissed her again. And then his noble intentions were washed away, because Alyssa brought her arms up around his neck and pulled him even closer.
“Show me, Jackson. I need you to show me,” she pleaded.
Jackson lifted her from the tub, carried her to their bed, and gently kissed every surface of her body, telling her exactly what she meant to him. Somehow he managed to only touch her, but it would cost him much pain for the next few weeks. When she fell asleep in his arms hours later, he knew that they were only just beginning and he knew he would go through any amount of pain for this woman he would love for time and all eternity.
EPILOGUE
“We sure have done well.”
Martin stood at the back of the yard as he watched his son dancing with his new bride, both their faces glowing as Jackson dipped Alyssa and kissed her in a way that left no doubt in Martin’s mind that this time his son would have real happiness that he truly deserved.
“Yes, we did, my friend. Yes, we did,” Joseph said, and he clapped Martin on the back.
“What did you both do? Certainly not very much. Those two almost didn’t make it,” Bethel grumbled. She was standing beside Eileen and Maggie while also looking out at the dance floor.
Sage was home, and Bethel was thrilled to see her, but her granddaughter didn’t seem the least bit interested in finding her own lifelong dance partner. Bethel had asked Sage whether she was going to settle down, and her granddaughter had actually had the nerve to laugh. Bethel found herself just a bit disgruntled.