“Katie, wait!” Jake shouted as he made his way toward me.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not funny!” All my energy was focused on keeping the tears from my vulnerable eyes and placing one foot in front of the other.
But he was faster than me, and before I knew what was happening, he threw me over his shoulder like a sack of feed.
“What are you doing?” I screamed. But he didn’t answer as he turned around with determined strides and headed back to the balloon.
“Up!” he bellowed as he stepped into the basket.
The little man I hadn’t noticed before released the tethers, and when the balloon lifted from the ground, Jake returned me to my feet.
I backed away until my legs hit the edge of the basket. My heart was slamming in my chest, my breath heavy, and hands fisted at my sides. “What the hell are you doing?” I screamed.
“Trying to get you to listen to me!”
“So you kidnapped me in a hot air balloon?”
He actually grinned, then folded his arms across his chest and rested against the basket opposite me.
He looked smug and satisfied with himself, and my eyes narrowed. I didn’t see the humor in the situation. I looked over at the man controlling the balloon, and he smiled too.
“Do you think this is funny?” I demanded. Balloon guy quickly sobered and turned around. Offering us the limited privacy of his back.
I turned to Jake and stared at him. Trapped by the open sky—overwhelmed by anger and hurt—but I couldn’t think of a word to say.
He ran his hand through his hair, eyes searching mine. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for two weeks, but all you did was ignore me. You left me no choice.” His voice was low and calm.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“I think there is.” He began to move toward me, but I stiffened, and he stayed put.
“Please just listen to me. If you still feel the same way when I’m done, you can walk away and I’ll leave you alone.”
My throat tightened and I nodded.
He relaxed against the basket, but said nothing. We stood in silence as the balloon climbed higher and higher. The sun moving lower as it began to set into the hillside.
“I’ve run this over in my mind a thousand times, but now that I have you here I don’t know where to begin.” His lips lifted in a sideways smile, but his eyes were sad and distant. “Why are you running from me?”
I looked to my hands, not sure how to answer. Not sure I understood my own motivation anymore.
“Is it because of Grace?”
Just the sound of her name turned my stomach, but I knew that wasn’t the reason. With each passing day my subconscious told me he was telling the truth. This was Jake. The man who’d never lied to me about anything in the twenty years I’d known him. Not even when he was a child...
“Shit, Katie, I’d do just about anything to prove to you that nothing happened, but I can’t. All I can do is promise on every fiber of who I am that I would never do that to you. I’d never hurt you like that…”
“It’s not that.” I turned out toward the sky, and took a deep breath. “This thing between us will never work.” My throat was tight and voice so weak it was barely audible.
“Why?”
I took a deep breath, my heart aching. “Because I want a family.”
Three long seconds passed before he answered, “So?”
“So?” I turned around again. “You don’t want that! You’ve never wanted that.”
He shook his head. “I was a kid, I didn’t know what I wanted.” His eyes locked on mine. “But I do now, and I want you. I want everything with you.”
I swallowed the ball of tears that clogged my throat, and my mind raced for an excuse—any excuse to push him away and protect what was left of my heart. “We’ve known each other too long, Jake. There’s too much history between us.”
He stepped closer. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know!” I gave him my back again and sucked in much-needed air.
I felt him move behind me, so close his breath was in my hair, his deep voice demanding a better answer. “Why, Katie?”
I broke. “Because something is bound to happen—because I can’t risk losing you.” I choked on the words. All the emotions I’d been holding on to came pouring out of me. My insecurities, all my fears of being left behind by every single person I cared about. “It’s too much of a risk. I can’t lose another man I love.” I gripped the side of the basket, needing its support so I didn’t fall to the floor in a puddle of sorrow.
His smooth jaw grazed my cheek, and he let out a breath. His hands came up on either side of the basket, caging me in. “Is that what you’re afraid of?”
My chest ached at the understanding in his voice, but I couldn’t speak.
“You love me, Katie, and I love you so much I can’t see straight.” His words wrapped tight around my heart. I’d never heard him say them before. To anyone.
He gripped my shoulders and turned me around. “I can’t let you run away from me again.” His eyes met mine. “After Dave died, I thought I needed to take care of you. I thought that if I let myself fall for you, I was somehow betraying him.”
I looked down, but he caught my chin and lifted until our eyes met again. “I was wrong.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “I was so wrong.
“I want to be with you, Katie. I want to protect you and be everything you’ve always believed I am. I want to build a life with you. I want to have a dozen kids who look exactly like you. Ones that throw tantrums, wear their heart on their sleeve, and whose noses scrunch when they laugh. I want that so much. I love you.”
I gripped his shirt and smothered a sob in the crook of his neck. “I’m afraid.”
He pulled back and cupped my face in his hands. “Why?” he whispered.
Tears streamed down my face, but I couldn’t hide anymore. “Because I don’t have anyone left. You’re it, Jake.”
A storm of blue emotion stared back at me. “I know I’m not the easiest man to live with. I’m stubborn as hell, and I can take an eternity to see what’s standing right in front of me. But I promise you... No one will ever love you as much as I do.”
His lips grazed mine, his warm breath giving me life. “Do you trust me, Katie?”
I closed my eyes, my throat so tight I could barely breath. What was I supposed to say? I wanted to trust him. I wanted to give him everything—just didn’t know if I could.
He trailed a hand down my cheek, my neck, my shoulder, until he took my hand and held it over my heart. “Trust me with this. Trust me because you know me better than anyone. Trust me when I tell you there’s nothing more I’ve wanted in my whole life than spending the rest of it with you. I love you, Katie.”
I crushed my body to his, gripping fists of his shirt to pull myself closer. “I love you, Jake. I love you so much.”
He buried his face in my hair, and his voice came low and rugged. “I thought I lost you.”
My hands laced around his neck and I whispered, “You could never lose me. I’ve been yours since I was fourteen.”
He took my face in both hands and kissed me. A kiss that poured emotion. A kiss that healed hurts and left no doubt in my mind that he loved me.
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve trusted you, but I was so scared.” I gripped him to me, not sure I’d ever be able to let him go again.
“Just talk to me. We can get through anything, Katie. Don’t you know that?”
I leaned back and looked into the eyes of the man who’d already seen me through life, death, good times, and bad. And for the first time realizing that I meant as much to him as he did to me.
“I do.” I tucked my head into the crook of his neck. Tears of relief, love, and devotion rolled down my cheeks as I pressed my body against his, savoring each breath, each heartbeat, the warmth of his skin.
The little man in the corner began to
hum a low tune, a love song, and my shoulders began to shake between tears.
Jake pulled away and looked at me. “Are you laughing?” He smiled and brushed my cheek with his thumb.
“It’s just—this!” I waved my hand in the air, encompassing all there was. The open sky, the balloon, the little man who still stood in the corner, humming.
He smiled, showing his adorable dimple and white teeth. “Now you can cross it off your list.”
I shook my head and wiped at my face. “When did you plan this?”
“Remember that phone call I told you to trust me about?”
In the bar. How could I forget? “You’re crazy.” I smiled.
“That’s not my fault, you make me crazy.”
I hit him on the shoulder.
He laughed, pulled me closer, and pinned my hands to my sides. “I’d live in an asylum the rest of my life as long as I got to take you with me.”
Tears blurred my vision as I looked up at him. “I love you too, Jake.”
“I’d walk through hell just to hold your hand.”
And that’s when I knew. Sometimes life didn’t send you a road map. Sometimes pieces to a puzzle went missing, and you had to patch it together with scraps of paper and tape. And sometimes… Sometimes you have to jump, and trust that someone will be there to catch you.
That day, with the open sky as my canvas, miles up in the air with the man I’d loved my whole life, I jumped.
And he caught me.
FIRST AND FOREMOST, I want to say THANK YOU to all my readers! Thank you for giving my book a chance. If you liked Katie and Jake’s story, one of the biggest compliments you can give me is leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, iBooks, or anywhere else books are sold. I would love to hear from you.
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TAYLOR IS A CONTEMPORARY romance author who loves writing stories about real people. Ones with hopes, dreams, fears, insecurities, and flaws. She loves to read as much as she loves to write, and is thrilled to share her first novel with you.
When Taylor isn’t writing, she can often be found with her nose in a book, her face behind a camera, or spending time with her husband and three young children.
Taylor would love to hear from you.
Website: TaylorSullivanAuthor.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taylor-Sullivan-Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@AuthorTSullivan
I AM VERY GRATEFUL to a multitude of friends and family whom without, this book would’ve never come into being.
To my husband— I would be lost without you. Thank you for always picking up the slack when I need you. Thank you for always encouraging me, especially in the moments when I felt like giving up.
To my three children— You make my life better just because you’re a part of it. Don’t ever forget how much I love you, don’t ever stop being you, and never give up on your dreams!
Mom— Thank you for instilling in me that nothing is beyond my reach. That there’s nothing that isn’t possible if I want it badly enough.
Dad— You were the first example of what a man should be, and I miss you every day.
My big brother— You will always be the other man in my life. Thanks for being the best brother a girl could ever wish for.
My little sister— The one who introduced me to the world of romance novels, who still calls me with the gross details in life, and will always be one of my best friends.
My brother-in-law— I will never be able to express how much your support and encouragement means to me. Thank you!
My soul sister, Kate — The one I didn’t find until I was twenty-six. I know we’ll be friends until we’re little old ladies. Without you I wouldn’t have done half the crazy things in my life; including (but not limited to) writing this book.
Lydia— Thanks for encouraging me, for taking me the way I am, and being a wonderful friend!
All my SG friends— You ladies have been with me through so much! Thank you for your constant support through love, loss, life, and publishing my first book! You all mean more to me than you’ll ever know. Thank you for everything.
Marianne— Because your shoulder is the most comfortable one to cry on, and I’m so glad I met you!
Anna—I can always count on you for your honesty. Thank you for holding my hand through this whole process.
Kelly— What can I say… I fucking love you, my sweet, supportive friend. ;)
Jeff — Thanks for being my comic relief and partner in crime.
Mika — You’re the person I count on you to push me out of my comfort zone. Thank you for always encouraging me.
Ann — Thanks for your constant support and always being there to lend the perfect word.
Kishan — Thanks for always sharing your wealth of Knowledge and constant support. You’re such a wonderful friend.
To all my Beta readers: Tabetha, Kristen, Nancy, Polly, Kate, Nancy, Nesreen, Kelly, Marianne, Emma, Carmen, Heather, Dawn, Jamie, Lisa, Nikki, Ryann, Kathryn, Brandy, Stevie, Megan, THANK YOU! With all my heart!
I really hope I haven’t forgotten anyone, but if I did, I blame it on lack of sleep, and too much coffee!
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