~*~
Nick felt Jesse move out from under him and snuggle close. “Hold me,” she whispered.
Then as he looked down into her beautiful face, lit up by that devastating blinding smile of hers, he realized that he wanted to do this every single day of his life.
He loved her. And maybe he wasn’t good enough for her, but he was a damn sight better than Wayne ever was. He could make her see that what they had was perfect.
He watched her as she got up shyly to go to the bathroom and get cleaned up. Restlessly he roamed her room, cataloguing how everything seemed so Jesse.
She was so damn perfect and had always been his ideal woman. Now that he had a taste of her, he couldn’t go back to life without her. Then he saw it.
It was an envelope lying on her dresser. It had the words Bucket List written on it in neat, precise penmanship. He laughed in disbelief.
“What’s so funny?” Her voice came through the bathroom door.
“Everything.” Casually he picked up the sheet of paper lying next to the envelope. So this was her famous bucket list. His eyes swept over it and he froze. Then he smiled, folded it, and palmed it.
When Jesse came out of the bathroom she was wearing a slip and a nervous smile.
“Listen, I know this is awkward, and we’ll have to figure out how to handle everything. I really want to work at the clinic, it means a lot to me. I know there’s a part of you that doesn’t really like who I am—”
“I like who you are just fine.”
But she just plowed ahead, “Oh please, it’s okay. I’ve made choices that seem stupid, but really, I had no idea that Wayne gave you that scar ...”
He swooped her up, pausing a moment to breath in her smell, holding the truth of her feelings for him to himself as he held her, then he threw her on the bed again and leaning into her face he enunciated, “I. Like. Every. Single. Thing. About. You.” He spoke slowly and clearly and watched as her eyes softened.
Then she cleared her throat and said quietly, “Hear me out. It’s okay if this is a onetime deal. I went into this with my eyes wide open. But I can’t bear to be one in a string of women. I’m not going to fall into bed with you anytime you crook your finger at me.”
He laughed at her serious expression, but stopped when he saw the hurt in her eyes. Tenderly he swept the hair off her face, “Continue.”
She lifted her chin and went on, “I would want a committed relationship. I can’t be one of a long list of women. You would have to quit dating Noel. Until that happens, don’t knock on my door again.”
She spoke firmly, hiding tears, and tried to move off the bed, wriggling to get out from under him.
“Why would I want to date Noel, when I’m in love with you?” He pulled the bucket list from out of the palm of his hand and showed it to her. “How about we erase the last entry and check off the only one you’ve scratched out?”
There were still tears in her eyes, but her smile broke through, pure unadulterated happiness.
So he pushed it. “I love you, Jesse. I think we should get married.”
“What?”
“You want me to repeat that?” He knew there was uncertainty in his voice, but the smile on her face still shone.
“Please.” She looked achingly beautiful.
So he took her hand and said, “Please marry me, Jesse. Let’s spend the rest of our lives working on our bucket list.” Then he was laughing as she launched herself at him and they fell back in the bed a tangle of limbs and lips.
Finally she pulled herself up and whispered, “Are you sure?”
And sinking into her warm arms, surrounded by pure Jesse scent, he whispered back, “Positive.”
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Write On Press Presents: The Ultimate Collection of Original Short Fiction, Volume II Page 51
