“You’re making this sound easy,” he murmured with his lips to the crown of her head, “but it’s not.”
She leaned back to look up at him. “No, we’re going to have to work on it and make some sacrifices and take risks. What I’m saying is it’ll be worth it. The difficult part’s already over—we both fell hard. It’s onward and upward from here.”
“Take no prisoners.” He shook his head and a small laugh escaped him. God, he was scared shitless. He didn’t know how to bring something precious and fragile into his life.
“Except for you.” Her hands slid up his back. Her lips whispered across his jaw.
Jack lifted her feet from the floor. “I want to be good for you.”
“You have been. You are. You will be.” Her teeth scraped lightly over his earlobe, sending a surge of heat and longing through him. “I’m going to show you all the ways I’ve grown stronger because of you. Because of things you’ve done for me and said to me. Because of how you look at me. For a long time, I didn’t understand why you look at me the way you do, but I knew you saw something in me I wasn’t seeing. I can’t tell you how many times thoughts of you motivated me when I wasn’t sure I could get something done.”
He kissed the top of her shoulder, which was bared by the asymmetrical shirt she wore. “You can do anything you set your mind to.”
“I’m setting my mind to returning the favor. Together, we can overcome anything—our pasts, your job, a long-distance relationship. I’ll send you Better Than Sex cupcakes to tide you over between days off.”
“I thought we established that the name is false advertising.”
“God, did you ever,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “But I enjoyed your argument so much, I’d be happy to have you repeat it.”
He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. Right now, he had all he’d ever wanted. They would plan the next steps together. After that . . .
Onward and upward, she’d said.
Jack’s arms tightened around her. Onward and upward.