“There’s one big problem, Jude. I live here and you live there.”
“Why do you think I’m here, wifey?” I say, shooting her a small grin.
Her breath catches and her big, beautiful eyes lock with mine, the draw between us impossible to resist for a minute longer. I shift closer to her and hold out my hand, sighing happily when she laces her fingers with mine. The rightness of it has my mind blanking of everything but here… now… her.
“Yes, I knew that you deserved to be told in person rather than over the phone. It’s more than that though.”
“Will you tell me?”
I give her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I knew you’d left before Dare could tell me. It was like Ifeltyou weren’t close anymore.”
Her eyes flash wide. “Wow.”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
Silence stretches between us, but it’s not awkward, and I don’t rush her. I’ll give her however long she needs to process the news and what it might mean.
“Even before you found out about us bein’ legally bound, you were feelin’ the Call?” she asks. I nod, not looking away from her, which means I don’t miss the way her whole body relaxes. “What happens now? I mean, I don’t know about you, but if the mountain spirit has deemed that we belong together, it’s probably not wise to go against her wishes by havin’ the marriage annulled or anythin’, right?” Then she gasps, jerking her hand from mine and covering her mouth. “Unless you’re here with papers ready for me to sign. Cause I will, Jude. Whatever you want. We didn’t think this was real anyway, so if you wanted to cancel out Pete’s mistake or whatever?—”
Leaning forward, I gently circle her wrist before pulling it away from her face. “Breathe, wifey.” She slowly inhales before letting it go, her shoulders dropping down from her ears as she does. “Better?” I have to bite back a grin when she worries her lip between her teeth and nods. “You think I’d drive all this way—andbring dinner—just to tell you I want to annul the marriage?” She opens her mouth to say something but I beat her to the punch, “orget you to sign divorce papers?” When her expression softens, I forge on. “I’m here to tell you I want to get to know my wife. Our marriage bein’ real may have brought me here tonight, but it’s not the main reason I’m here. It’s not why I’ve got plans to visit you every weekend for the foreseeable future either. I’ll keep doin’ it until you tell me not to.
She quirks a brow. “And if that doesn’t happen?”God that feels good to hear.Any lingering nerves or reservations I might have still had vanish into thin air.
“Then we’ll have some decisions to make about where and how we work toward creatin’ a life together. Whether that’s here or back home. Still with me?”
She stares at me for so long I wonder if I’ve misread her. “This is a lot,” she whispers.
There’s no way I can hold back my smile now. “It is. We don’t have to talk about it all now, but if it’ll help, I can lay everythin’ I want out on the table and you can tell me what you think about it.”
“You mean you didn’t just do that?”My wife is cute as hell.
“Naw. That was me tellin’ you what brought me here. I’m talkin’ about my intentions now.”
The tightness around my chest eases the minute her lips twitch. “OK, hubby. Hit me with the rest. I always work best when I have all the information.”
“OK. I’m here because I wanted to see you. Been wantin’ more than just phone calls since that first one because I felt therewas somethin’ between us the first day we met.” Her eyes widen but I keep going. “As fornow, I wanted to look you in the eye when I told you about us bein’ married for real. I also wanted to see that the connection and chemistry between us and the feelin’s I get whenever I think about you—whenever I talk to you—aren’t just in my head.”
“They’re not,” she rushes out, “one-sided, I mean.”
There’s no stopping my smile at that. “Pete’s mistake gave me the chance to tell your brothers about the Call and that you’re my One. It also meant I have the chance to prove to all of you that the only thing I’m interested in is you.” Her mouth drops open. “And bein’ here tonight has only confirmed that what I’m feelin’ isn’tjust in my head. How am I goin’ so far?”
Her pouty pink lips twitch. “You’re doin’ fine.”
“Ok. I should also confirm that I’m pretty damn happy that drivin’ here means I got to skip my chores,” I deadpan.
“You didnotjust say that,” she giggles.
I tilt my head to one side, then to the other. “The words came out of my mouth, didn’t they?”
She laughs again. “OK. Does that mean I’ve already earned a tick in the pro-wife column without even tryin’?”
“All you have are pros, Em. You’re a geology rockstar who lovesearthquakes. The only thing better than that would be if you were an astronaut, but that would mean you wouldn’t be here and the mountain wouldn’t have brought us together.” She grins. “You’re also the middle child in a family of mountain men and yet somehow you control almost all of them with an iron fist whether you’re there or not. You love Deadliest Catch and shark documentaries—just like me—and you’re so gorgeous that on our weddin’ day, I took one look at you and forgot how to breathe.” I lean in and drop my voice to a rough whisper. “Then tonight, when you opened the door and I saw you again, it happened again.”
Em opens her mouth to say something then closes it again, her eyes watching me closely the entire time.
She looks down her body before lifting her gaze to my face again, looking unconvinced. “I’m wearin’ my home clothes, Jude.”
“I said what I said. I’m not lyin’ either.” I don’t look away from her, which means I get to see the pink rising up her cheeks.