by Iris Morland
Jubilee’s eyes opened again as he took off the shoulder strap and, hooking his hands under her armpits, he began to pull her from the car. Smoke choked him, making him cough, and Jubilee cried out when she landed on the ground.
But she was free. Heath bent down to pick her up, jogging as far away from the car as possible for cover. Only seconds later, an explosion shook the ground, and Heath covered Jubilee with his body as it seemed like hell itself at begun raining down upon them.
Heath vaguely heard sirens, but he only had eyes and ears for Jubilee. She was crying—from fear or pain, he didn’t know—and he brushed the tears away with gentle fingers.
“I have you, I have you. You’re safe. I love you. I love you so much. Don’t you dare leave me or I’ll never forgive you.”
She sniffled and laughed a little before moaning in pain. “I’m—not—going—anywhere,” she gasped in halting breaths. “I’m going to make your life hell for lying to me. I promise.”
Tears filled his eyes. He kissed her softly. “It’s a promise.”
When the EMTs and firefighters filled the area, it took all of Heath’s strength to let them see to Jubilee. Someone took his arm, saying something about getting him checked out, but he could only watch as Jubilee was placed on a stretcher and carried up the embankment to the waiting ambulance.
19
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you tonight? I don’t think you should be alone.”
Jubilee bit back a sharp reply, knowing all too well that her mother meant well. Lisa Thornton hadn’t left Jubilee’s side from the moment she’d found out about her car accident. Not only Lisa, but the entire Thornton clan had shown up at Fair Haven Memorial, demanding to know what had happened.
Jubilee knew she’d been lucky. Despite everything, she’d only suffered a cut to her forehead from flying glass, which had only needed some stitches, along with a minor concussion. She’d been released from the hospital after forty-eight hours. The attending physician had said that she should take it easy and come back to the ER if she suffered any kind of dizziness or nausea, but so far, all Jubilee felt was tired.
“Mom, I’ll be okay. Really. I just want to sleep.”
Lisa looked like she wanted to protest, but then she just sighed deeply. “All right. Please call me if you need me. I’ll come straight away.”
Jubilee hugged her mom tightly, and after a moment, Lisa returned the hug. They hadn’t always understood each other, but Jubilee knew without a shadow of a doubt how much her mother loved her.
The moment Lisa closed Jubilee’s apartment door behind her, Jubilee texted, She’s gone.
And then Heath was there in her doorway and she was finally, finally, in his arms.
“I thought she’d never leave,” he muttered, cupping her cheek. “I was waiting for hours.”
Jubilee grinned. “It was maybe a half hour.” She poked him in the chest. “You could’ve come inside, you know. My family loves you now, since you saved me from certain death. I’m pretty sure my dad would’ve given you my hand in marriage if you had asked.”
He didn’t laugh at her joke. His expression turned serious, and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes.
Heath hadn’t left her side from the moment she’d arrived at the hospital. He’d been her guardian angel, saving her like he had. She didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if he hadn’t seen the accident and pulled her from the wreckage. Her car had exploded and burned down to little more than scrap metal.
“I don’t care about your family,” he said. “I care about you. Just you.”
Stepping away, he pushed his fingers through his auburn hair. Jubilee’s heart twisted. She’d wanted him to say that he loved her, that he wanted to be with her. Sometimes she wondered if she’d dreamed that he’d told her he loved her during the accident. Had he stayed by her side simply out of duty? The thought depressed her so much she wanted to sink into the floor.
He started pacing. Unsure and suddenly exhausted, she sat down on the couch and waited for the inevitable. He’s going to say it’s over—for good. He’s just trying to figure out how to tell me.
Had she known all along this would happen? That despite what she felt for him and what he felt for her, it could never go anywhere? Tears started in her eyes, but she blinked them away, feeling foolish.
“I’m sorry for everything,” he began. He kept pacing, and it made Jubilee a little dizzy. “I put you in danger. I hold myself responsible for what happened. Rich would never have targeted you if it hadn’t been for me.”
While Jubilee had been in the hospital, Caleb and the entire Fair Haven Police Department, along with the police forces of a few nearby towns, had gone on a manhunt to find Rich. They’d gotten a tip two days ago, and they’d caught him at a seedy motel fifty miles outside of Seattle. He’d surrendered immediately and currently sat in jail. He’d end up going to prison just like his boss, and for that, Jubilee was thankful.
“It wasn’t your fault. How could you have known he’d do something so crazy?”
“I did know, though. He tried to hurt Rose. He threatened me, made me resign from my job. All that just because we dared to say something about Johnny and his crimes.” His voice rose with each word. “I was angry when I heard that Rich had been caught because I wanted to take him down myself.”
She smiled, but it was a sad smile. “And then what? You’d get your revenge and move on? Justice will be served. Rich will be locked up for a long, long time. I think that’s a pretty decent punishment for any person.”
Heath stopped pacing, not saying anything. He seemed to be at war with himself. His shoulders tensed, his forehead creased.
Jubilee’s heart pounded from nerves, and in a burst of frustration, she said, “Will you just tell me already?”
He blinked. “What?”
“Tell me we’re really over? That you don’t love me anymore?” Her voice cracked, but as she rose from the couch to stand before him, she refused to crumple at his feet. “It’s fine. I appreciate that you saved my life, and I’ll always be grateful to you. But you don’t have to hang around just because you feel guilty or because you think it’s your duty or something.”
She was breathing hard by the end of her speech, and Heath still hadn’t said anything. Why is he silent?
Waiting for the ax to fall was the worst feeling of all. Close to begging, she opened her mouth to say something else when he held up a hand. She bit her lip.
“You think I’m here just because I feel guilty? No other reason?”
She squared her shoulders. “Aren’t you? You won’t touch me. You won’t even talk to me—”
“Because you almost died!” he burst out. His face was anguished, and finally, some emotion other than anger seemed to crack its surface. “Jesus Christ above, Jubilee, I almost lost you. If I hadn’t been there, if I hadn’t pulled you out of that damn car, you’d be dead. I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you. I’d be at your fucking funeral, watching you be buried six feet under as your family blamed me for your death.” He panted, a flush staining his cheeks. “I do feel guilty. I’ll always feel that guilt, but that’s not why I’m here.”
Her throat closed up, and she suddenly couldn’t find the words she needed.
“I’m here,” he said slowly, decisively, “because every time I look at you, every time I think of you, I know that you are vital to my very being.” He closed his hands around her biceps, and despite his gruff tone, his touch was gentle. “I love you, Jubilee. I meant what I said three days ago. I love you so much I don’t think I could survive if something happened to you. You are everything.”
She trembled before a sob burst from her, which then turned into a hysterical kind of laughter. She was laughing and crying at the same time, her vision blurred with tears, and she could only bury her face in his chest and cry so hard that it wracked her whole frame.
He soothed her, whispering her name, stroking her hair. She felt like
her heart had broken and then mended all in the same moment, and it was a strange sensation of both terror and elation.
“You love me?” she whispered, looking up at him. “Even after everything I said to you?”
“Yes, I love you.” He stroked her cheek. “But what about you?”
“Oh, Heath. I think I fell in love with you the first time you ever smiled at me. I tried to move on. I did. I told myself it was just a crush, that it would pass—”
Growling, he wrapped his arms around her and finally, finally, kissed her. She moaned and, tilting her head back, she reveled in the feeling of his mouth moving against her own. His embrace made her feel safe and loved, and then she felt him bend down and pick her up in his arms.
“I’m never letting you go,” he vowed as he laid her down onto her bed, crawling on top of her.
“But what about Seattle? I’m moving soon. And your job? Harrison told me what happened. You shouldn’t have had to resign. It wasn’t fair at all.”
“It doesn’t matter, because we’ll figure it out. I loved my job, but I love you more. A job can be replaced. You, though?” He kissed her forehead, below where the stitches had been placed, then kissed her cheeks, her nose, her chin. “You can never be replaced.”
“And neither can you.” She arched upward, needing him to touch her, to feel the warmth of his skin against her own. “I need you,” she moaned when he did nothing but kiss her.
“You’re too sore.”
“No, I’m not, but you’ll be sore if you don’t make love to me right now.”
He chuckled. “Then your wish is my command.”
* * *
Heath felt like his heart would burst in his chest. Seeing Jubilee in that car, so close to death, and then so pale and fragile in her hospital bed, had made him realize how much she meant to him. The mere thought of losing her had been like an arrow to the chest.
He struggled against wanting to wrap her up in wool and never let her go anywhere without him. He knew she’d only hate him if he coddled her like her family always had. She’d resent him for it, and he wouldn’t have her love dissolve into something so bitter.
Smoothing the hair from her forehead, careful of her stitches, he said, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I’m tough.” She smiled. “I beat cancer twice and now a car accident. I’m invincible.”
He wanted to shout that she wasn’t, that she was human and vulnerable and he needed to protect her from all that life would try to throw at her, but he swallowed the anxiety.
“Do you know how precious you are to me? When you were lying in your hospital bed, I prayed. I never pray, but I made a deal with God that if he let me have a second chance with you, I’d do whatever he wanted.”
Her eyes widened. “Anything? Are we going to be missionaries in the wilds of the Amazon now?”
That made him laugh. “Hardly.” He bent down to kiss her, slow and sweet. “As you can see, my thoughts are hardly pure at the moment.”
“I can see that.” She cupped his erection as she said it. That mere caress had him wanting to strip her bare in five seconds flat and push inside her, but he forced himself to be slow. She might not have gotten seriously injured, but she was bruised and battered. He brushed his fingers across a vivid bruise on her forearm, just below a cut from all the shattered glass.
“Are you afraid? Because you shouldn’t be. I won’t break, Heath.”
He realized that he was afraid, in a way, and it only showed him how much he truly loved her.
“I don’t know if I can be gentle,” he admitted as he pushed her shirt up her belly, exposing the pale, smooth skin. “I need you so badly. It’s like a fever in my blood.”
“Then have me. I trust you.”
It was like a switch went off in his brain. With a low moan, he stripped her out of her shirt, pushing her bra down so he could kiss and suck her breasts. She inhaled, her stomach turning concave, as he licked the pink nub of one nipple before sucking it into his mouth.
He hummed under his breath, worshiping her breasts, loving the way she said his name and tugged at his hair. She was so responsive to his touch that it only sent his desire for her into a frenzy. His cock pulsed, his breathing increasing as he kissed down her body.
It wasn’t long before he had her naked and splayed on the bed like some kind of erotic offering. Her eyelids were heavy as he stood up and took off his own clothes, and when he stroked his cock, she licked her lips in anticipation.
Jubilee sat up and closed her hand around his own, and they stroked him together. With her looking up at him through her dusky lashes, her cheeks flushed and her lips parted, she was so beautiful it took his breath away.
“May I?” she asked. “I want to taste you.”
As if he would say no. Nodding, he let her explore, her fingers closing around his cock as she bent to swirl her tongue around the tip. His toes curled into the carpet, and he tipped his back on a groan when she licked him from root to tip. She licked him like that for a time until she made a frustrated noise in her throat.
“I have no idea what I’m doing. What should I do?”
He swallowed. “Take me in your mouth. Go slowly. Oh God, Jubilee…”
He couldn’t speak after that as she sucked his cock, swirling her tongue around him. She couldn’t get all of him inside, but it didn’t matter. Seeing the woman he loved hum in pleasure as she gave him the greatest blowjob he’d ever had? He’d never forget this moment for the rest of his life.
When she began to bob, her mouth hot and wet, he groaned as his balls tightened. He let her continue for a few more minutes until he gently pushed her away and onto the bed.
“You’re going to kill me,” he muttered, kneeling on the floor on front of her. He pushed her legs apart until he could see her dewy pink center, already so wet for him. God, he loved her, and as he licked through her folds, those were the only words he could think.
I love you. I love you. I love you. He buried his face in her sex, and she cried out when he sucked the swollen nub of her clit. She strained and panted, moving as he made love to her with his mouth, and when she screamed with her first orgasm, he couldn’t stop the pleased grin from crossing his face.
“Don’t look so smug,” she said as she rolled her eyes.
“Oh, I’ll be smug if I want to, and I’ll go to bed dreaming about you coming under my tongue like you just did.”
She blushed scarlet. He chuckled as he rose and hooked his arms under her thighs, pulling her toward the edge of the bed.
“Are you ready for me? Because I don’t think I can wait another second.”
She nodded, her hair a dark circle around her head. “Yes, yes, now.”
He pushed his cock inside her in one smooth thrust, making them both moan simultaneously. Her delicious wet heat almost sent him over the edge right then. Gritting his teeth, he slowly pulled out, only the tip of his cock still inside her, before he thrust into her again. He continued with that rhythm, loving how her moans got higher-pitched with each stroke.
“I love you.” Sweat beaded on his forehead, and God Almighty, his glasses were getting steamed up. He’d laugh if he weren’t about to lose his damn mind. “I love you.”
“I love you, and I need you to go faster. Don’t hold back.”
He did as she wanted, pounding into her, the sound of their bodies slapping together filling her room. He panted, sweat now dripping down his chest as he watched her writhe on the bed. She was so gorgeous, so dear to him, and he could hardly believe she was truly his.
“Heath,” she gasped right before her release slammed into her. She bowed upward, the tendons in her neck showing, and it was only a millisecond later that he felt his own orgasm gather in his lower back and burst inside him. He came in endless waves, filling her with his hot seed, his vision going black. He was fairly certain he’d died and gone to heaven right then.
He fell onto the bed, groaning, and she laughed.
�
�I can’t move,” he said. He rolled her onto her back to see her face. “I think you killed me.”
“But what a way to die.” She kissed the tip of his nose before giggling. “Your glasses are all foggy. Oh dear.” She took them off and wiped them on the comforter before sliding them back onto his face. “There you are.”
It was a small gesture, but it only made him love her more. Kissing her temple, he whispered, “You’re the best thing ever to happen to me. I’m never letting you go.”
“I’m glad we agree, because I’m not letting you go, either. You’re mine, Heath DiMarco, and you’ll just have to get used it.”
He snaked an arm around her, his heart completely full.
Epilogue
Jubilee woke up to sunshine and birdsong. It was ridiculous, really, how gorgeous it was going to be today. Then again, after a rainy winter and a rainy spring, any sunshine was welcome.
“Good morning,” she said as she passed her roommate Renee on the way to the bathroom. Jubilee had found Renee’s listing online for a roommate, and after a few emails back and forth, Renee had asked her to move in. Two weeks after New Year’s, Jubilee had packed up everything she wanted into her new car and driven to Seattle to start her new life as a college student.
Her family had wanted to help her move, and it had taken all of Jubilee’s powers of persuasion to convince her brothers she didn’t have enough things to warrant all of them coming with her.
“Heath is helping me, anyway. I’m not even taking much furniture with me.”
Harrison, though, had convinced her he’d like to help, and Jubilee had finally agreed. During the Thornton Christmas get-together with all of her siblings and their significant others, he and Jubilee had been able to have that talk.