Countdown to a Kiss
Page 28
“No. They offered, but I didn’t want them to leave you alone here. When Brooks was able to, he came and got me.”
“When was that?”
“Not for a long time. There was a weird ice storm and lots of accidents. Thankfully there were no fatalities. I’ve only been home a few hours.”
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Not much.” He motioned to her bottle of pills. “They gave me some of those, but I didn’t want to take them yet. Not until…”
“Until?”
“We could talk.” She squeezed his hand and smiled at him. He smiled back, and pushed up his glasses.
“Oh,” he said, sitting up straighter, “I almost forgot.” He looked at their legs, at himself, his head tilting. She knew he was trying to figure something out. Then he carefully got out of his chair, swung his body around to face her. “Can you lift your leg without too much pain?” She did and he stepped in front of her chair and sat on the ottoman, facing her, and placing her leg across his lap. Almost like he had at the hospital last night.
But much, much better.
He reached for his sweatshirt and started to unwind it and she realized it was wrapped around something. When he tossed the sweatshirt aside she let out a squeal. “My shoe! You found my shoe!”
“Well, actually, it found me.”
“What do you mean?”
He ducked his head, chagrinned. “It’s what I tripped on. How I fell.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” He looked at her. “That’s why I went back in the first place. To look for your shoe. You didn’t want me near you, and I didn’t want to be with anyone else.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “Nobody else,” he said firmly, with conviction. She could tell it was the truth. Lewis never lied. “I just thought if I found your shoe I’d at least have a good excuse to make you talk to me again.”
He tried to place the glass slipper on her foot, but ended up balancing it on her toes due to the bandage wrapped around her foot and ankle. Thank God she hadn’t left her other shoe in the hospital trashcan like she’d briefly considered last night. At one point after Lewis left, she’d almost thrown the shoe, and his phone, across the room, trying to erase the painful night.
“Just like Cinderella,” she gushed, surprising herself. She wasn’t much of a gusher by nature, but hey, when fairy tales were unfolding right in front of you…a gush or two was in order.
Lewis snorted. “I know I’m not anybody’s idea of Prince Charming. King of Geeks, maybe, but—”
“You’re my Prince Charming. You always have been.” He looked up at her, giving her a ‘Don’t bullshit me’ look. The same look he’d given her a moment ago. He still hadn’t bought in to them being Destiny. She knew she had to pull out the big guns. She took a deep breath, let it out, and said what she’d wanted to say since she was five years old but didn’t know the grown up words.
“Lewis Kampmueller, I’ve loved you my whole life. Nobody will ever love you the way I do. And I think it’s time we take this beyond friendship.”
The head tilt was instantaneous, and deeper than she’d ever seen. He was going to have some crick in his neck during their life together.
“Darcy. I…how…what….”
“Lewis, answer.”
“Yes. Absolutely yes.”
She smiled and touched his face. “You know, I never got a New Year’s kiss.”
“Me neither,” he said, leaning toward her.
“What do you say we try to hit a new high score?”
And they did.
~*~*~
~*~
If you enjoyed “The Perfect Kiss,” check out Mara Jacobs’ other contemporary romances, The Worth Series:
Worth The Weight (The Worth Series, Book 1: The Nice One)
Worth The Drive (The Worth Series, Book 2: The Pretty One)
Worth The Fall (The Worth Series, Book 3: The Smart One)
Read about them at www.marajacobs.com
After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in advertising, Mara spent several years working at daily newspapers in advertising sales and production. This certainly prepared her for the world of deadlines!
Most authors say they’ve been writing forever. Not so with Mara. She always had the stories, but they played like movies in her head. A few years ago she began transferring the movies to pages. She writes mysteries with romance, thrillers with romance, and romances with…well, you get it.
Forever a Yooper (someone who hails from Michigan's glorious Upper Peninsula), Mara now resides in the East Lansing, Michigan, area where she is better able to root on her beloved Spartans.
Visit her at marajacobs.com.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Tess
Annabelle
Grace
Lewis