by Noelle Adams
He walked down the aisle into coach, scanning the passengers for Sarah’s vivid hair and much-loved face.
He finally saw her in a back corner. She was leaning against the window, her face covered by her hair.
Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief and started back toward her.
No matter what, he was going to get her back. He loved her, and she was his.
Chapter Twelve
The first obstacle was the middle-aged woman sitting in the seat next to Sarah. She was watching as Jonathan approached and was obviously startled when he crouched down so he was on her eye level.
The couple in the seats across the aisle and the young man in the seat in front of the woman turned to watch him too. Feeling awkward but determined, Jonathan nodded toward Sarah. “I need to talk to her.”
Sarah had her eyes closed, but they flew open at the sound of his voice. She jerked in surprise and straightened up. “What are you doing here?” Her voice broke on the penultimate word.
“You left.”
She frowned and didn’t say anything, obviously too taken aback to form words.
“You left without saying anything.” Jonathan would prefer to have this conversation in private, but he was the one who’d messed this up and so he was going to fix it—even if that meant spilling out his heart in front of a bunch of strangers.
“Wait,” Sarah said, blinking. “You’re on the plane?”
“It was the only way to catch up with you. They wouldn’t let me get to the gate without a ticket, and then you’d already boarded.”
She looked like she’d been crying, a fact that cut into his chest, and now a couple of tears streamed out of her eyes and down her cheeks. “But why?”
“Isn’t it obvious, honey,” the middle-aged woman said. She was obviously American and spoke with a pronounced Southern accent. “He couldn’t let you leave without telling you he loves you. No wonder you’ve been crying, poor thing.”
“Well, let the man say it,” the wife of the couple across the aisle put in. “You’re interrupting his big moment.”
Jonathan was torn between frustration and self-consciousness, and the combination paralyzed his tongue. He’d been planning out his whole declaration on the drive over, but now he couldn’t remember any of it. He just stared at Sarah, balanced preciously in a squat in the tight aisle of a plane.
“Well?” Sarah prompted, wiping the tears away. Her expression had changed, and he couldn’t help but understand the sudden blaze of joy and hope reflected in her eyes. “Is that what you came to say?”
“Yeah,” he managed to get out. “That’s it.”
He and Sarah stared at each other, and he knew she heard him perfectly, understood him perfectly, knew him perfectly.
“Damn,” the college-aged man in front of them said, turning around. “That’s pretty pathetic. You’ve got to do better than that.”
Jonathan glared at the young man briefly and, when he turned back around, Sarah had raised her hands to her face. Her shoulders were shaking. He couldn’t tell if she was laughing or crying.
Afraid the annoying student was right and his declaration of love was much lacking, Jonathan burst out, “I love you, Sarah. I’m completely gone on you. I’ve been crazy about you for ages, but I’m too much of an idiot to know it. I’ve never loved another woman, and I’ll never love anyone else. It’s always you, Sarah. I’m not good at talking. I never know what to say. You know that. But I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you when you needed to know. I was trying to show you. I can’t be your boss—not if we’re together—but I didn’t want you to lose your job. So I had to get funding for the lab and make sure you kept your job. But it was wrong. I was still trying to earn it, when we both know that’s not what we’re about. I needed to tell you. But please don’t leave me. I’ll do better. I’ll do anything you need from me, anything to make you happy. I need you more than I thought I would need anyone. You’re the one who taught me how to love. Please don’t cry.”
She lowered her hands, nearly sobbing with reaction. He thought—he hoped—it was good.
“Much better,” the wife of the couple across the aisle said encouragingly.
“Shh,” her husband said. “Don’t butt in.”
Sarah was still wiping away tears, and Jonathan wanted desperately to reach out for her, to show her how he felt—since he was always so much better at showing than saying. But there was a seat and a woman in between Sarah and him, and he could hardly crawl over the woman to get to her.
“I thought you didn’t want me,” Sarah choked out at last.
“Of course I want you. I’m so sorry I made you believe anything else.”
Sarah finally controlled her sobbing, and she just gazed at Jonathan speechlessly.
“Well,” the woman between them said, nudging Sarah gently. “Aren’t you going to tell him you love him too?”
Sarah’s face was almost glowing with emotion that was impossible not to recognize. She didn’t have to say anything. Jonathan already knew.
“I’m sorry, sir,” a female voice came from above him. “You need to return to the first-class cabin.”
Jonathan turned to look up at the flight attendant. “What?”
“It’s policy, sir. Passengers aren’t allowed into the other cabins. Would you mind returning to your seat?”
“But—“ He turned back to Sarah, who was still frozen and speechless.
“I’m sorry, sir. You really do need to go back.” He could tell from the woman’s posture that she was preparing herself for a crisis.
“But he was just about to propose, I think,” the wife of the couple chimed in, before her husband shushed her again.
He straightened up to a standing position, looking back at Sarah. She looked beautiful and emotion and bewildered. And cramped in the small seat. “Could I swap seats with her and give her mine in first-class?”
“I don’t need your seat, Jonathan,” Sarah said, evidently finding her voice. “We can talk when we get to New York.”
“Well, I’m not going to sit up there in first-class for hours while you’re stuck back here.”
“I’m happy to swap seats,” the middle-aged woman said, looking thrilled at being part of the situation—or maybe just at the prospect of getting a first-class seat for the rest of the flight. “That way you can sit next to her.”
“That would be great,” he said, relieved by the solution. He turned to the flight attendant. “Is that all right?”
“Yes, if you both agree. But we really need to get the switch done now. We need to start the food service soon.”
So, instead of a blissful, romantic conclusion to his declaration of love, Jonathan had to wait while the middle-aged woman gathered all her belongings and got up. Then he had to follow her through the narrow aisle until they reached the first-class cabin. He was almost out of cabin when he heard Sarah call from back in her seat, “I love you too.”
He whirled around, his heart dropping into his gut.
She was standing up, precariously balanced between her seat and the one in front of her. She was beaming at him like the full moon in a dark sky. “I love you too,” she said again, so loudly everyone in the cabin could hear her.
When a burst of applause broke out among the other passengers, she looked rather taken aback and self-conscious. She was still smiling though. “I just wanted you to know.”
He smiled back at her, hating this flight, this plane, all these people surrounding them, the hours until they got to New York—everything keeping them apart.
He finally got the woman back to his seat, grabbed his stuff, and was able to return to the seat next to Sarah. He collapsed into it, feeling exhausted and unsure what to say and ludicrously happy.
He raised the armrest between them and reached out to pull her against his side, holding her with one arm. She burrowed into him, taking his free hand in hers.
Jonathan was uncomfortably aware of several pairs of eyes on them, surrounding passen
gers watching them with pleased satisfaction.
“Sorry this all was so public,” he murmured. “I always seem to make a mess of things.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Uh, yeah, I do.”
“Okay. Maybe this was a little bit of a mess. But I don’t mind.”
He couldn’t stand even the slightest distance between them so he raised her face so he could kiss her softly.
When she finally pulled away, she was flushed and couldn’t seem to stop smiling. “I thought…” She cleared her throat. “I thought you didn’t care enough about me. I mean, I was thinking you did, but then you never said anything, so I assumed you didn’t…I couldn’t figure out why, if you loved me, you wouldn’t say so, so I figured you…you just didn’t.”
He perfectly understood her babbled explanation. “I know. I’m an idiot and a coward. You know how I am about saying things. I thought I would show you first—get everything fixed up with the lab and then show you how I…how much I…how I feel. I show a lot better than I say, and I wanted it to be…I wanted it to be good.”
He could only hope she understood his babbling the way he understood hers. From her expression, she evidently did. “You do show really well. But I’m sometimes a little insecure. You need to say sometimes too. And not just when you feel like you have it all together.”
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do better.” He realized the stakes of not speaking when he should have, how close he’d come to losing her. In a rush of feeling, he burst out, “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
She laughed and leaned over to kiss him just on the side of his mouth. “I love you too. We’ll work on it.”
***
They got a hotel in New York after they landed, and they were both so exhausted from the long flight and the overflow of emotion that they just took showers and fell into bed.
But Sarah woke up a few hours later, disoriented and groggy and happy even before she realized why. She rolled over and flopped against Jonathan.
He grunted and reached out for her, obviously still mostly asleep. “Love you,” he mumbled, when she nestled against his side.
“You don’t have to tell me every minute of the day,” she mumbled, although the words made her shiver with pleasure, joy, and excitement.
“Oh. M’okay.” His arm tightened around her briefly before he relaxed again.
Feeling a little more awake, she added, “But feel free to say it as much as you want.”
“Love you.”
She smiled as she stretched out against his big, warm body. “I love you too.”
***
Sarah popped a peppermint ball in her mouth, hoping it would give her enough energy to get through another hour of work. She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but Jonathan showed no signs of stopping yet.
She knew how to make him stop. She could tell him she wasn’t feeling up to working any more, and he’d immediately tell her to go rest. Or she could make him think about sex, and that was a surefire way to get him to take a break.
But this was the last day before they were going on vacation, and she wanted to finish the project as much as he did.
Maybe one more hour would do it.
He was peering at the DNA strand she’d just pulled up on the monitor, but he turned to her without warning, peering at her with the same focused attention he’d been giving the monitor. “We can stop,” he said.
“I don’t want to stop.”
“That’s your fifth peppermint in the last hour.”
Her lips parted. “You keep count?”
“You only eat that many when you’re ready to drop. You can go to bed, if you want. It’s really fine.”
“I’m not going to leave you here to work all night on your own.”
“I’m not tired.”
“Yes, you are.”
He narrowed his eyes, obviously annoyed at her disagreement.
She reached over and smoothed down the sleeves to his lab coat. “The more tired you get, the more wrinkled your lab coat gets.” She felt a sudden wave of affection and wrapped an arm around his waist, stretching up to run her lips across his jaw.
She felt him relax against her, but he murmured, “None of that in the lab. Someone might see.”
She giggled. “You know they all know we’re together now, right?”
He grunted in affirmation.
“You know they all knew we were going to get together long before we actually did, right?”
He grunted again.
“You know everyone else turned in an hour ago, right?”
As expected, another grunt.
“So why can’t I kiss you in the lab?”
There was a smile in his eyes, although he was still trying to frown. “Because you distract me. I’m not good at multi-tasking.”
“I know that. I’ve never seen anyone as single-minded as you. Only one thing can go on in your brain at a time.”
His brain had obviously shifted gears, and he pulled her against him, fitting her body against his, which she could feel tightening. “We can go to bed now,” he murmured thickly, “if you really want.”
She giggled again. “Let’s give it another half-hour, and then we’ll call it quits, even if we have no results.”
Jonathan wasn’t far enough gone in thinking about sex to not be able to pull back, and in another minute he was in full work-mode again.
Sarah was not as single-minded. She could think about work with part of her head and also think about how much she adored this man, who was now her partner rather than her boss.
Which is exactly what she did for the next twenty-nine minutes.
***
The next day they flew to Santorini, and Andrew met them at the airport to drive them to Oia, to his and Laurel’s inn.
Andrew had called Jonathan several times in the three months since the wedding, until even Jonathan couldn’t deny that he genuinely wanted to connect with his cousin. So they’d agreed to take a long weekend for a vacation and come down to the inn to visit.
Sarah was excited. She’d never been on a romantic vacation with a man in her life. She’d also never been to the Greek islands. Or anywhere in Greece. Or anywhere, really, except the States and Iceland and England for the Damon wedding.
She’d spent most of her life working—just like Jonathan. It wasn’t like either of them would suddenly become people of leisure, but still…it was nice to do something for fun every now and then.
She felt a wave of satisfaction as they pulled up in front of the charming, white-washed inn because Jonathan and Andrew were both laughing at a joke Andrew had just made.
Three months ago, Jonathan hadn’t been close to any of his family. But maybe that could change too.
As they got out of the car, they were greeted by three huge German Shepherds, who ran over and wriggled wildly until Andrew knelt down to pet them. Grinning, he introduced them to Theo, Circe, and Persephone, obviously proud when they all sat obediently and lifted their paws to shake.
Laurel and an elderly Greek couple had dinner ready, and they ate out on a terrace in the light of a blazing sunset. Even Jonathan seemed relaxed and at ease, telling Andrew and Laurel about their work and asking about the work they’d done on the inn and about Harrison and Marietta, who were living in England now since Harrison worked closely with Cyrus Damon in business.
“What about Ben?” Sarah asked, during a pause in conversation. “Has anyone heard from him?”
“Not a word,” Andrew said, his face sobering slightly. “I’ve tried to call him a couple of times, but he never picks up.”
“Maybe you should get a prepaid phone so he wouldn’t recognize the number,” Sarah suggested.
“He’d just hang up, I think. Harrison said he’s emailed a few times, and Ben replied once saying he just wants to be left alone.” Andrew sighed. “He’s not even using his real name. He doesn’t want to be a Damon. At all.”
“That’s to
o bad,” Sarah said, feeling strangely sad. It wasn’t like everyone had to be attached to their family to be happy, but clearly whatever Ben was holding onto was eating him alive. “But he made the effort to come to the wedding, so maybe that’s a good sign.”
“Maybe I should try to call,” Jonathan said, frowning thoughtfully out at the water. “Since he walked out because he thought I was getting the cold shoulder.”
“Yeah, maybe it would help for him to know that Lord Uncle hasn’t cut you off completely, that he’s softening in his old age.” Andrew winked at Sarah. “Or maybe Sarah should call, since he seemed particularly fond of her.”
Jonathan made a guttural noise that sounded almost like a growl, sending the rest of them into peals of laughter.
After dinner, Jonathan said he felt like taking a walk. He seemed to expect Sarah to go with him, and she was happy to oblige.
She really liked Andrew and Laurel, but she didn’t want to be around them all the time—not in such a romantic setting.
Jonathan had evidently gotten directions from Andrew, since he seemed to know where we was going as they walked down to a pebble beach. It was dark by now, but the moon and stars were incredibly bright, so they had no trouble finding their way.
They didn’t talk much on the walk, which wasn’t at all unusual. It didn’t bother Sarah at all until she started to notice Jonathan getting stiff—the way he only did when he was uncomfortable.
They were standing on the beach, looking out on the water, when she finally asked, “What’s the matter?”
He looked at her and opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.
“You have to tell me,” she said quietly. She had a flare of nerves. She was so happy, and she was convinced that Jonathan was too. But that didn’t mean something bad couldn’t still happen. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.” In the light of the moon, he looked almost sheepish.
She lowered her brow. “So what is it? What are you working yourself up for?”
He gave a low laugh and glanced away. But before she could prompt again he’d turned back. “It might be too soon. I don’t know. I’m just no good at this.”