The One He's Been Looking For

by Joanna Sims

  “But I have to be honest, Ian. I’m crazy about you. It feels like I’ve known you for years instead of just days. And even though there’s a part of me that still thinks we shouldn’t jump into this right now, the other part of me just wants to be with you.”

  He turned his face toward her. “Which part of you is going to win?”

  “The part that wants to take a chance on whatever this is between us.” Jordan leaned her body into his. “Hands down.”

  Ian let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulders. With his other hand, he reached up and gently turned her head toward him. He leaned in and touched his lips to hers. His lips were firm and soft as he lightly kissed her. His warm hand moved to the back of her neck as he deepened the kiss, tasted the inside of her mouth.

  Jordan made a noise of pleasure in the back of her throat as he slipped his hand under her knees and lifted her onto his lap. His heavily muscled arm became her support as he wrapped her tightly in his arms and devoured her mouth with his. Jordan pressed her body into his and matched Ian’s passionate kisses with passionate kisses of her own. His fingertips traveled down her throat, grazed her breast, before he gripped her hip and rocked her into his hardening groin. She felt an explosion of tingling at the apex of her thighs, felt her heart beating wildly in her chest.

  Ian pressed a trail of kisses along her neck as he stroked the skin of her bare legs from the top of her thigh to her ankle. Jordan closed her eyes and tilted back her head as his palm slowly traveled back up her leg to the hem of her dress. His fingers pushed the material upward, his fingertips gently stroking the skin just beneath the hem. Jordan breathed in, her lips parted, when he kissed her exposed throat.

  Ian’s fingers left her naked thigh and traveled upward to her breast. His large hand covered her small breast and she could feel the heat of his skin through the thin material of her dress. Her nipple hardened as she pressed herself into his hand. Her heartbeat was drumming in her ears as she splayed her own hand over Ian’s chest.

  “Ian,” she said in a breathy voice. “I think we need to slow down.”

  “You’re right,” Ian whispered huskily in her ear as his hand moved from her breast back up to her face. “This isn’t where I want us to make love for the first time.”

  Jordan pressed her face into his neck and said with a self-effacing laugh, “I’ve been observing a self-imposed celibacy. If we had gone much further, I was afraid I wouldn’t have been able to stop....”

  He hugged her tightly and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m just crazy about you, Jordan. Do you know that? Whenever I’m with you, I forget about everything except how good it feels to be near you....”

  She moved off his lap but held on to his hand. “I think I’ll take that as a compliment...?”

  “I meant it as a compliment.” He smiled at her in the moonlight. “I haven’t been able to let my guard down around someone in a really long time.”

  “I like that,” Jordan said, as she wrapped her arms around her body. The night air had cooled while they were caught up in each other’s arms.

  Ian noticed her shivering. “Cold?”

  “A little.”

  “I suppose we should head back anyway.” He stood up. “We have a busy couple days ahead of us.”

  Jordan accepted his hand as he helped her to her feet.

  “I just hope that things calm down south of the border by the time we reach the boardwalk,” he said as he adjusted himself inside his jeans.

  Jordan smiled as she watched him trying to make his erection less noticeable. “Picture the most unsexy thing you can think of—like your friend’s grandmother in lingerie—and you’ll be back to decent in no time at all.”

  “Okay—that was a horrible image you just put into my head!”

  “Well...” She picked up her shoes and dusted off the bottom of her dress. “Did it work?”

  Ian bent down to retrieve his shoes, then reached out for her hand as they headed back to the boardwalk. “Like a charm.” He laughed. “Problem solved.”

  “See?” She pointed her finger at him. “I told you so. It works every time.”

  Ian and Jordan walked slowly toward the lights of the hotel. As they drew closer to the sounds of the jazz band and the voices of the hotel patrons, she let go of his hand, but he pulled her back into his arms.

  “This’s a strange situation for me,” he said, his lips hovering above hers. “I don’t usually get involved when I’m working on location.”

  “Ian...” Jordan lifted up on her tiptoes. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

  After they shared a final kiss, she walked back to the hotel as if she was floating on air. She was in love. It was official now. And the most amazing, shocking development of all: Ian Sterling—hunky, handsome, Adonis Ian Sterling—was wild about her, too. She was so excited that she wanted to scream it, text it or tweet it to all her friends and family. But a promise was a promise. For now, it would have to be a secret—a wonderful, incredible, crazy secret.

  Chapter Ten

  After two more days of shooting, Ian announced that they had gotten all the shots he needed for the campaign. Ivory and Jordan returned to the room to pack up their belongings and get themselves ready for the wrap party. Jordan hurriedly scooped up all her clothes out of the drawers and tossed them into the open suitcase on her bed.

  “Anxious to get down to the pub and see Ian, are we?” Ivory asked her.

  Jordan tried to hide her surprise as she glanced at her roommate. “I’m excited to see everyone...including Ian.”

  “Oh, please!” Ivory exclaimed. She waved her hand in the air. “There was so much sexual tension flying around between you and Ian during the photo shoots, it actually made me miss my boyfriend! The two of you should just get a room already—which shouldn’t be too bloody difficult, since you already have rooms at this hotel.”

  Jordan’s brow wrinkled. “It’s that obvious?”

  “Totally obvious.” Ivory zipped up her suitcase. “But it made for a great show, I can tell you that much.”

  They finished packing, took turns in the bathroom and then headed down to the bar. Jordan couldn’t wait to see Ian. They had managed to steal a couple private moments together since their first kiss on the beach, and he liked to send her flirtatious texts. Jordan loved all her stolen moments with Ian, but her favorite was when they’d found themselves alone on the elevator and Ian had pinned her up against the wall and kissed her all the way to the third floor. But the moments had been far and few between, and Jordan had her hopes up that they would be able to steal away from the group on their last night together in Curaçao.

  “Sex on the Beach times two, barkeep!” Ivory had cleared a path for them all the way to the bar. After she ordered their drinks, she surveyed the crowd, looking for the rest of the crew. “Hey, there’s part of our clan over there.”

  They grabbed their drinks and headed to the other side of the dance floor. Halfway there, Jordan spotted Ian, Lucca and Clint sharing a table. Lucca was hanging on Clint like a Christmas-tree ornament, while Ian seemed to be a world away in thought. The minute he spotted her, he left the table and walked directly to her side.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” he said without an ounce of pretense. “Do you want to get out of here?”

  Ivory gave her a conspiratorial wink. “All I can say is it’s about time.” She sucked down her Sex on the Beach, put the glass on a nearby table and then relieved Jordan of her drink. “I’ll watch this for you. You kids run along now and have a good time.”

  Jordan smiled at her roommate. “Don’t wait up.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Ivory replied, before she headed to the table where the rest of the crew had parked themselves.

  Ian put his hand possessively on the small of Jordan’s back and walke
d closely behind her as they skirted the perimeter of the dance floor. The minute they made it through the crowd, he reached for her hand.

  Jordan beamed at him as they moved away from the noise of the bar. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you, too,” he said with a smile that showed off his dimple. “All I’ve been able to think about for the past couple days is getting you alone.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Ian opened a side door to the hotel. “My room.”

  Jordan’s stomach flip-flopped as she walked through.

  He led her over to the elevator and pushed the up arrow. “Is that okay?”

  “You read my mind....”

  The minute the doors to the elevator slid shut, Ian leaned back against the wall and pulled her toward him. She pressed herself into the full length of his body as she dragged her fingers down his corded back.

  “You smell good enough to eat,” he said as he kissed the side of her neck.

  “Do you think anyone else from the crew noticed us leaving together?” she asked with a breathy sigh.

  Ian captured her face between his large hands. “Beautiful, I don’t care if they saw us or not. The job is done, I’m free, and I intend to spend my last night in Curaçao doing exactly what I want to do.”

  “I was just thinking of you,” Jordan said as the doors to the elevator slid open.

  He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips. “I know. And I love you for looking out for me. But I don’t want to worry about anything right now. I just want to spend time with you.”

  Jordan followed him to the penthouse, keenly aware that he had used the L word. Was that just a turn of phrase, or did he really mean that he loved her?

  Inside the penthouse now, he fixed drinks for them and then they headed out to the balcony. Jordan sat down on the two-person chaise and scooted over so Ian had enough room to join her. She leaned back against the plush cushion and soaked in the Curaçao sounds and smells. She would miss the feel of the warm, misty Caribbean breeze on her skin and the faint smell of flowers in the air. She would miss the sound of calypso music that set the perfect backdrop for the island’s laid-back vibe.

  Instead of sitting beside her, Ian sat down on the edge of the chaise and faced her.

  “Why are you all the way over there?” she asked as she put her glass down on the floor beside her.

  Ian looked out at the horizon pensively before he brought his eyes back to her. He reached for her hand and held it in his. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  Jordan’s gut immediately tightened before she could force it to relax. “That’s never a good way to start off a conversation....”

  “I know,” he said. “But there’s something you need to know before...we go any further.”

  Ian’s words caught her attention and she pushed herself into a more upright position. Her entire body stiffened with nervous anticipation.

  “You’re not about to tell me something horrible, like you’re addicted to Duck Dynasty...are you?” Jordan tried to break the tension by making a joke.

  “No,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Nothing as horrible as that.”

  She pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. “Well, that’s a load off.”

  After several seconds of silence, Ian asked in a more serious tone, “Did you know that I was engaged?”

  Jordan was glad that her face was in shadow and he couldn’t see the guilty look that was surely plastered there. She had searched Ian on the internet after their test shoot together and had run across hundreds of pictures of Ian with his ex-fiancée.

  “Actually, yes. I did know about that,” she admitted. “I’ve seen pictures on the internet. She’s really pretty.”

  “We’ve never really talked about our past relationships....” Ian said.

  Jordan shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t really like to talk about mine. They’re in the past for a reason. I’d rather keep them there.”

  “And I can appreciate that. In fact, I respect that about you. But I think it’s important that you know why my last engagement failed.”

  “All right....” Jordan said cautiously.

  Ian could feel his heartbeat speed up at the thought of telling Jordan about his condition. He hadn’t been able to sleep the past two nights just thinking about how to handle this subject with her. He knew himself well enough to know that he had fallen hard for Jordan. She was on his mind nearly every minute of the day. He missed her when she wasn’t around, and he couldn’t wait until he could be back by her side.

  This wasn’t a fleeting infatuation. He had fallen in love with Jordan Brand. He wanted to take a chance with her, try to build a life with her, but before they could move forward, he needed to tell her about his eyesight. And he knew it was a risk. She was so young, so carefree. He had no idea how she would react to the news. But as nervous as he was that Jordan would reject him, he knew that the moment to tell her was now.

  Quietly, he said, “A few months after I asked Alexia to marry me, I was diagnosed with something called Stargardt disease, and she ended up calling off the engagement.”

  The minute Jordan had heard the word diagnosed, she’d pushed herself away from the cushion to sit upright and listen more closely. This wasn’t what she had anticipated at all. She had thought, instinctively, that she was going to hear a tale of infidelity.

  She gripped Ian’s fingers a little more tightly as he continued, “Stargardt is a rare form of macular degeneration—”

  “My grandfather had MD,” Jordan interjected as she tried to process what Ian was saying to her. “But he was eighty-nine. You’re so young....”

  “Stargardt is a juvenile form of macular degeneration,” Ian explained. “Most people with it go blind in their teens. But some people are diagnosed later in life—like me.”

  Jordan’s heart seized when she heard the word blind. She had watched helplessly as her grandfather’s world had slowly faded to black as MD stole his eyesight.

  “Ian....” She put her other hand on his arm to show her support. “I’m so sorry. I’m sure you’ve already gotten a second opinion...?”

  “And a third.” He nodded. “The diagnosis stands.”

  “Is Stargardt the same as wet macular degeneration? Honestly, I’ve never heard of it before....”

  “I wish I’d never heard of it,” Ian said bitterly. He stood up and walked over to the balcony. There, he put his back to the railing and crossed his arms over his chest. “But to answer your question—it’s different. Basically, I’m losing my central vision in both of my eyes. The progression of Stargardt is so different for everyone who has it that the doctors can’t tell me how long it will take for the disease to progress—or how far it will go. But chances are I’ll be legally blind in both eyes. I’ll still have my peripheral vision, but...”

  His words trailed off and they both remained silent as the minutes ticked by. Jordan needed a moment to digest what Ian had just told her. She thought of her favorite grandpa and all the problems he’d had with his vision loss before he passed away. Her mind naturally started to review her time with Ian, trying to identify those little idiosyncrasies that had never really made sense...until now.

  “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?” Ian’s question broke into her internal dialogue.

  “Yes, Ian. I understand.”

  He braced himself for rejection. She was so quiet, it was hard to gauge how she was going to respond. “And how do you feel about it?”

  “How do I feel...?” Jordan repeated the question as if she hadn’t understood it. “I feel...horrible about it. I mean, I’m stunned. I’m not sure what else to say, other than I’m sorry. I saw how hard it was for my grandpa, and I just can’t believe that it’s happening to you. You’re so young.”

&nbs
p; “I meant—how do you feel about getting involved now that you know this about me?”

  “Oh,” she said, surprised. She patted the spot next to her on the chaise. “Ian—can you come over here and sit next to me? You’re too far away.”

  He sat down to her left. “I can see you better out of my right eye.”

  Jordan turned her body toward him and linked her arm through his. “Then I’ll always make sure I’m on your right side.”

  With her free hand, she covered his fingers with hers. “This must’ve been really hard for you to tell me....”

  He nodded. “I’ve been really worried about how you’d react.” There was an emotional undertone resonating in his voice that touched her heart. “But I couldn’t let things get more...serious between us without you knowing what’s going on with me.”

  “Because you thought that...maybe I wouldn’t want to be with you because of this?”

  “It’s happened before.”

  Jordan shook his arm a little bit. “But it’s not happening now. Ian, listen to me. I appreciate you telling me about what’s going on with your eyes so I can help you, but this doesn’t change how I feel about you.” He had opened himself up to her, had rendered himself vulnerable before her. She wanted to reciprocate, level the playing field and put her own skin in the game. She reached up and lovingly touched his face. “If you haven’t figured it out by now, Ian—I’m in love with you. And I want to be with you no matter what.”

  Ian didn’t respond verbally to her profession of love. Instead, he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her with a renewed hunger—a renewed passion. Jordan wrapped her arms around his waist; it didn’t take long for her body to start buzzing with excitement. Ever since the passionate moment on the beach, her libido had been kicked into overdrive. She felt as if she would die from sheer sexual frustration if Ian didn’t make love to her as soon as possible. She needed to feel the weight of his body on top of her. She needed to feel him inside her. Making love to Ian wasn’t something she just wanted—it was something her body needed.