Waste of Handsome (Carolina Waves #2)

by Tina Gallagher

  “Jack.” Her eyes shifted left and right again before looking directly into mine. “Are you sure you don’t want to take this somewhere a little more private?” she whispered.

  I shook my head.

  “Hannah, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Please tell me I didn’t totally fuck this up.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Please tell me you’ll give me a chance to prove that I’m not a total idiot and I know how priceless you are.”

  She blinked and when I saw the tears roll down her face, I couldn’t keep my distance any longer. I leaned toward her and placed my hands on either side of her face, wiping her tears way with my thumbs. I continued stroking her cheeks as I spoke.

  “I’m so sorry for treating you like anything other than the most important woman in the world.” I looked into her eyes, willing her to see the truth in my words, looking for a sign that she still loves me. The small flicker of interest I saw there gave me hope so I continued. “I panicked. Instead of dealing with some shit that has nothing to do with us, I freaked out and ended up pushing you away.”

  I lifted her glasses to the top of her head so I could see her eyes without the glare of the lights on her lenses obstructing my view. My pounding heart thrummed in my ears. I haven’t been this nervous since the first game I played for the Waves. And as big as that moment had been, so much more is at stake here.

  “Hannah, I love you.” I offered a small smile. “Please give me another chance.”

  My stomach tightened as she looked away and shook her head. I moved my hands from her face and rested them on her lap. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally met my gaze again.

  “Jack, the last few weeks have been torture,” She said, doing nothing to calm my nerves. “I never, ever want to feel like that again.”

  The tears flowing freely down her cheeks caused an ache in my chest. Which is nothing less than I deserve after what I put us both through.

  “Hannah, I love you and I swear if you give me a chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life making this up to you.” Her eyes widened at that last statement. I hadn’t meant to blurt that out right now, but I don’t regret the fact that I did. But first things first here. “Please.”

  My voice cracked and I blinked away the tears I feel fighting to get out. Hannah’s lips touched mine and I opened my eyes wide allowing them to flow free.

  “I love you too, Jack,” she whispered against my mouth. “And yes, I’ll give you another chance.” It was her turn to wipe away my tears. With her hands on my face, she pulled me in for a soft kiss then held me in place and opened her mouth over mine.

  I’m not sure how long that kiss went on before I heard a voice over the loud speaker announcing our flight. I slowly ended the kiss and rested my forehead against hers before pulling back.

  We still have an audience and I’m sure some, if not all, of this will end up on social media, but I don’t give a fuck. The only thing I care about is that Hannah loves me and is giving me another chance.

  I shifted off my knees and sat in the chair next to Hannah.

  “I’m going to meet my little brother,” she said.

  “I heard.”

  “I’ll be back in a couple days and we can figure all this out.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be able to carve out a few minutes either on the flight or in California to sort out the details.”

  “You bought a ticket for this flight?”

  I nodded. “I couldn’t get through security without a ticket.”

  “How did you know which flight I was taking?”

  “I didn’t know for sure,” I said. “But I assumed you’d use this airline and knew where you were going, so I took a chance and bought two seats next to each other. I figured if everything worked out, you could sit next to me. If they didn’t, I’d have the row to myself.” I chuckled. “When I ran through here I didn’t see you at first and I almost freaked out. Then I turned and there you were.”

  She smiled and rested her head against my shoulder.

  “Why are you still in your uniform?”

  “I needed to talk to you and didn’t want to waste time.” Around a smile, I added, “Plus, I wanted to see if you really think I smell good after a game.”

  She leaned in and took a deep breath.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “It’s gonna be a long flight,” I groaned.

  The woman at the counter announced boarding for first class passengers.

  “Ready?” I stood and grabbed her suitcase.

  She followed me to the counter and I scanned both of our boarding passes. We walked down the tunnel and boarded the plane. I stowed Hannah’s bag in the overhead bin and sat next to her.

  “My head is still spinning over all this.”

  “Then settle in and we’ll get you a drink, and we can figure out what I’m going to say to your father.”

  “About what?”

  “I basically proposed a little while ago and I should probably talk to him about that before I do it all nice and official.” I winked. “Maybe even fancy.”

  Hannah’s wide smile made that warm feeling spread through my chest. I rubbed at the spot, welcoming the feeling.

  “You are so much more than I ever imagined, Jack Reagan.”

  “Considering you thought I was a waste of handsome, I appreciate you saying that,” I said. “And I promise that for the rest of our lives, I’ll prove to you that I’m worth all this handsome.”

  Hannah’s laughter echoed through the small space.

  Her smiling eyes met mine.

  “What am I going to do with you?”

  “I don’t know, but we have the rest of our lives for you to think of something.”

  THE END

  Thank you for reading Waste of Handsome. I hope you loved Jack and Hannah’s story as much as I loved writing it! Please consider leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon.

  Stay tuned for Cal and Barbara’s story!

  Once Removed is coming early 2020!