Exposed [Book 4 in the Expiring Series]

13 Why is He Here?

Iris~~

Jonas's stories of Amoria fill me with a longing to see all of it. To take his hand and go on endless adventures in a world that is not my own. But I can't forget that this new world will not be welcoming to me and him. It will be hostile.

         All my life, I went through each day thinking that Elleany was all I would ever see. I was never going to be allowed to see other countries. But to think that entire time there was a whole other world where its people were going through their daily lives at the same time I was going through mine . . . it's still enough to almost knock me off my feet.

         Jonas slides his hands over mine, and I offer him the best smile I can muster. We might not have gotten to take our vows today, but I have to be his rock to lean on.

         "Your Mark will burn when we get to Amoria," he says.

         "I know."

         "So why are you here? Colton would have taken care of you had you stayed."

         "Wherever you go, I go. Haven't you realized that by now? Whether it's a peaceful meadow or a desert, I will be there, Jonas."

         Threading his fingers over my hand, he lifts it to his mouth and presses his lips against the center of my palm before raising his eyes to mine. "I've said it before and I'll say it probably at least a thousand times more, but you're too good for me."

         Shaking my head, I place my free hand on his forearm. "Don't say that. You never give yourself enough credit."

         He grabs my waist and tugs me against his side and leans us back until we're resting against the pillows at the head of the bed. He turns onto his side, facing me. "You know I cried when I saw you start to come down the aisle?"

         I reach up, brushing my hand through his hair. "I was two seconds away from losing control of my own tears."

         Jonas places his hand in my cheek, brushing his thumb over my skin. We don't need to speak. I only need to be near him. He moves his hand from my face and glides it over my neck and then down over my arm. I sigh, and Jonas frowns before pulling me against him so that my head presses into his chest, and he wraps his arms around me.

         "Tell me where we were going to go."

         I inhale deeply, taking in the scent of his cologne. "Singapore. And then Seoul. And then a couple days in Furong. It's in Hunan, China. One of your cousins told me about it. There are these waterfalls, and at night she said it's magical."

         Jonas takes hold of a piece of my hair and twirls it around his finger. "It would have been wonderful."

         "At the end we were going to go to Malaysia. Eli said he'd kill me if we didn't go and then gave me a list of places to see and things to try—all over the country."

         "We would have been tourists."

         I nod, feeling a lump growing in my throat.

         "I've never been a tourist. I don't think a visiting foreign dignitary is quite the same thing as a tourist."

         "No," I say shaking my head and laughing even as the tears pool. "It's not."

         "There's no one else I'd rather be a tourist with."

         "Don't let Colton hear you say that. He might get jealous."