"You know I can't let you go, right?" The man asked, voice gentler than I was expecting it to be. I looked up and he was staring right at me, eyes uncharacteristically kind.
I nod slowly, whispering, "Go ahead."
~~~
Ava Williams is just trying to l...
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I stepped inside, shutting the door with a click. He was leaning against his desk, back to me and staring out the window. The sleeves of his black sweater were rolled to his elbows and his hair looked longer, unkept. The sight of finally seeing him, really seeing him, took my breath away and the words I'd prepared were lost in my throat. I didn't realize I had let go of my grip on my cane until it clattered to the floor.
Jaime turned on his heel, his hand reaching for a drawer in his desk. His eyes were alert and trained on the fallen cane. Slowly his eyes trailed from the cane, to my feet, up my legs and torso before resting on my face. He scanned my body from head to toe again and again until he finally accepted that I was real.
I waited for him to say something, do something, but he stood there, drinking in the sight of me. His face betrayed nothing, but his eyes were a swirling pool of liquid mercury. He looked worse than the night he rescued me. There were bags under his bloodshot eyes, and a thick stubble covered his jawline. A crease formed between his eyebrows, and I longed to smooth out the line.
Tears sprung to my eyes and before I could utter a word, I was wrapped in Jaime's warm embrace. I clung to him tightly, not caring about the throbbing in my chest. I only cared about Jaime's arms around me, his heart thundering under my ear.
He pulled back, holding me at arm's length. He glanced down to my stomach and carefully lifted the bottom of my shirt up. I held my breath as he lifted it higher and higher until he pulled it over my head. I was left in just my bra and jeans. His hands fanned out across my abdomen, grazing the bandage over the middle. His touch sent tingles through my body.
"Didn't you read my note?" He was quiet. His face was open to me now and I could read everything that passed across it. Disbelief, amazement, fear.
"I told you I don't follow orders well." I smiled unapologetically, a tear rolling down my cheek. I ran my hand along his jaw, the stubble sharp and prickly and undeniably handsome. I stood on my tip-toes, bringing his face closer. When I pressed my lips against his, his arms tightened around me. One hand traveled to the base of my neck while the other pressed against the small of my back, pinning me against him.
His lips were soft and gentle as they brushed against mine. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe and when I came up for air, I rested my forehead against his.
"I couldn't." I closed my eyes, my breathing getting shallow. "I tried, but I couldn't forget you." I took his hands in mine, caressing the calluses on Jaime's palms. "I woke up and you weren't there. And then I read your note and..." I couldn't put into words the pain that had been worse than the bullet wound after reading it, but Jaime must've read it on my face because something similar crossed his.
"It hurt just as much when I wrote it. When I saw you laying in that bed, I knew that if I didn't leave then, I never would have been able to." Jaime swallowed his Adam's apple bobbing. My eyes met his, the rawness I saw almost caused my knees to buckle. "I thought it would be easier. For you, for me. I didn't want you to choose me because you had no other choice. I wanted to give you space to think clearly."
My lips lifted at the corner. "You could have at least left a phone number. Maybe an address." I pushed back against his chest, my palm flat against him, the heat seeping through his shirt.
His own mouth split into a breathtaking smile. One he rarely showed to anyone. "That would've made it too easy."
I was still smiling when he pulled me in for another kiss.
*****
A light breeze rustled my hair, the first signs of spring approaching, and I shivered in my light jacket, staring at the setting sun. A pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind.
"I think this hill is where I first started falling in love with you." I mumbled, leaning into Jaime's warm embrace. His head rested on top of mine as we remembered our first picnic. Has it really been only a few months since then? It felt like ages ago.
"I'm stepping down." Jaime said, finally breaking the silence. I twisted in his arms to face him, brows together. "Not now, but soon. I've already talked to Izaha, he's going to fill my position."
"Why?" I uttered a single word.
"I want to have a life with you and not be looking over our shoulders for the rest of it. I want to travel the world with you and just be with you. I don't want you getting hurt again and if that means retiring, then I'll do it. In a heartbeat." I gazed into his eyes, his mind and soul wide open for only me to see and I beheld the sheer amount of love in them for me, us. He took my silence as hesitation and added, "If you want me that is." I threw my arms around him, laughing softly and breathed into his ear, "I love you."
He picked me up effortlessly, bringing his lips to mine. I tried to convey all the love in my heart for this man in a single kiss as his lips moved against mine. When we finally broke for air, he smiled that rare smile of his. "I'll take that as a yes."
