“Okay, we got a farmhouse.”
He reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh and hands me my coffee. He shifts the gears on the steering wheel and pulls out.
I smile out the window as I ride in the bumpy truck.
“Do you know we haven’t passed a car?” he says as he keeps his eyes on the road.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?”
He shrugs. “Different.”
We follow the directions, and ten minutes later we get to a big stone entryway with the sign.
ARNDELL
“This is it.”
We turn up the driveway, and I smile. The road is lined with huge trees that create a canopy. Rolling green hills are as far as you can see.
“Oh, look at this place.” I smile in wonder. “She said the land was beautiful.” For five minutes, we drive through until we get to the top of a hill and find a big old house. It’s white with a sweeping veranda around the edge. The roof is made of shingles, and it must be a hundred years old.
Jameson’s eyes find me.
“Don’t say anything.” I smirk.
He holds his hands up in the air as if crying defeat.
We climb out and open the front door and peer in. I smile broadly. Wide-timber floors, a huge fireplace, and great big windows with views out over the property. You can see for miles from up here. The furniture is dated, but that doesn’t matter to us.
I take Jay’s hand as we walk through and look around. A large living area, a formal dining room, a big kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom are downstairs. There’s an old timber staircase, and we go up to find five bedrooms and another bathroom.
I turn to Jameson and wrap my arms around his neck. “Is this better, Mr. Miles?”
He smiles as he bends to kiss me. “This will do.”
We lie on a blanket in the grass, and the sun is warm on our faces. It’s Sunday afternoon, and we are in a sleepy haze.
Last night was heaven. We lit the fire, and Jay humored me and helped me carry the mattress out so that we could sleep next to it.
Today we have explored the property and went into town to grab some groceries in our light-blue pickup truck.
Jameson is relaxed for the first time since we met.
I’m happy . . . so happy.
I roll to face him. “Tell me about your relationship with Claudia.”
He frowns and rolls to his side toward me. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
He reaches up and brushes his finger over my bottom lip. “It wasn’t like what we have.”
“How so?”
“Well, we were friends for a long time. There was never this instant attraction or . . .” His voice trails off.
“No, go on,” I urge. “I want to know.”
“She did some stories for us, and we got to know each other. Then . . . over time we built a friendship.”
I watch him.
“I thought . . .” He hesitates and plays with the blanket underneath him as he thinks for a moment.
“You thought what?”
“I thought she was the love of my life. She was like me. Driven.” He shrugs. “She got me.”
My stomach twists in jealousy.
“We were together for three years. Engaged.”
I frown. “You were engaged?” I didn’t know this. It was on her bio but not his, and I was hoping it was wrong.
“Yes.”
My eyes hold his. “What happened?”
He exhales heavily. “She was offered the job as editor in chief for British Vogue. It was a huge thing, and she had worked so hard to get it.”
I watch him as he speaks.
“She moved and . . .” His voice trails off.
“What?”
“We tried the long-distance thing, and I struggled with no sex. It’s not who I am.”
I frown.
“So we made a pact that we would be with other people but try again in a few years. We had a five-year plan of getting back together.”
My heart sinks. He still loves her.
“But then a year ago I met this girl on a plane.”
I smirk.
“And she was everything that I wasn’t looking for.”
Our eyes are locked, and the air crackles between us.
“But I couldn’t pursue her because of my promise to Claudia.” He takes my face in his hand, and his thumb dusts back and forth over my bottom lip. “I wanted to. I desperately wanted to. I felt a physical connection with her from the word go. I was hard the entire plane trip, and our night together was insane.” He smiles softly. “There was something about her that I couldn’t forget. She lingered in the back of my mind. I compared all sex and women with her since then.” He pauses as he tries to articulate his thoughts. “They always fell short . . . even Claudia.”
I smile as hope blooms in my chest.
“Recently I’d been thinking about her a lot, and I had even contacted the airline and found out her name.”
“You had?” I whisper. This is news.
He nods. “I got a photocopy of your passport emailed to me just six weeks before you started working for us. I’d planned on contacting you, but with everything going on at work, I hadn’t got around to it yet. I had no idea that you were coming to work for Miles Media.”
“That explains it, then.” I smirk.
“Explains what?”
“Why you never called. I look like a prisoner in that photo.”
He chuckles. “This is true.” He leans in and kisses me softly. “Tell me about your past loves.”
My eyes search his. “I can’t.”
He frowns.
“Since I met you, I’ve realized that I’ve never been in love before.”
He smiles softly. “What about the guy with Backseat Barbie?”
I giggle. “You remember him?”
“Yes.” He smirks as he pulls me over his body and holds me tight.
“What I felt for them, Jay, and what I feel for you is incomparable.”
We lie in silence for a while and stare up at the trees as they sway over us.
“I love you,” I whisper.
He kisses my temple. “Good, because I don’t camp in hell for just anyone.”
I giggle as I hug him. This man kills me.
Jameson
We stare at the fire as it flickers. It sporadically cracks as the wood burns. Emily is in front of me on our makeshift bed on the floor. We’ve just made love and are in a sleepy, relaxed state.
Home tomorrow.
To be honest, I could stay here with her forever.
She makes anywhere home.
Emily smiles up at me. Her long dark hair is splayed across the pillow, and her big eyes offer me a deep comfort. My hand slides down over her full breast and lower over her stomach. I turn her head and take her lips with mine. Our tongues dance in a slow erotic dance.
I’m so in love with this woman. When we’re alone, nothing else matters.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Her eyes search mine. “For what?”
“For finding me.”
She rolls toward me and takes my face in her hands. “We were always going to find each other,” she whispers. “Soul mates do that.”
I smirk as I tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. “You don’t really buy into that soul mate mumbo jumbo thing, do you?”