Stay With Me

by Cross, Cassie

After everything he’s been through, I’d fight anyone who dared to say otherwise.

  “Of course you’re not,” I tell him, tenderly cupping his cheek. He turns his head and kisses the palm of my hand.

  “I want to finish my degree. I want to be an architect. So, I emailed my old academic advisor late last night because I wanted to get the ball rolling on that, and she must be a night owl or an insomniac, because she responded at 5AM. I couldn’t sleep, so I saw it the second it came in. She told me she was at a conference in Richmond and had time to meet me for an early breakfast.”

  He takes a deep breath and looks down at our entwined fingers.

  “I think she was testing my resolve. She was disappointed that I never finished school, but she never stopped trying to get me to come back. I made plans with her more than once just to get her off my back, and then I blew her off. I think she wanted to make sure I was serious.”

  “Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going? If not me then Ayanna or Mateo, or—”

  “Honestly? I was worried one of you guys would talk me out of it and tell me to wait. I know I probably seemed like I wasn’t thinking straight, but everything was as clear as it had ever been for me. It was a now or never thing; I felt like if I didn’t meet with her this morning, I might never do it.”

  I’ve felt the rush that comes along with being on the cusp of something great too many times to judge Jackson for it.

  “I understand. Sometimes when I’ve been struggling with my writing, this idea comes to me like a flimsy little thread. It’s just within reach, and I know if I don’t do whatever I can to grab onto it, it’ll float away. It’s not exactly the same thing, but—”

  Jackson’s eyes light up. “No, that’s it. That’s exactly it.”

  His joy at being understood is infectious, it creeps into my veins and floods out most of the doubt and anger that have taken up residence there since I found out he was gone this morning.

  “Breakfast was great, but it ran a little long and I got stuck in traffic. I thought you were leaving for the airport much later. When I got back and saw that I’d missed you, I begged Ayanna to give me your address. I got on the train and came straight here, apart from one stop.”

  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a phone charger, dangling it between us with a sheepish grin on his face. “For this.”

  I take it from him with a surprised laugh. “Is there a way we can glue it onto your person?”

  Jackson gives me a soft, affectionate smile, then takes my hands in his. “I know there’s a lot I need to work on, including my inability to keep my phone charged,” he says with a quiet huff of a laugh. He reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his thumb tenderly brushing against my cheekbone. “But I want you, Bird. Wanting you has never—not once—been one of my issues.”

  I kiss his fingers with a relieved sigh.

  “I’m still worried that you don’t know what you’re getting into with me—”

  I open my mouth to interrupt him, but he stops me short.

  “But I was thinking about it last night, what would happen if our roles were reversed and you tried to push me away while you were in pain. And if you were hurting, Bird, there isn’t anything bad enough that I wouldn’t want to be by your side and holding your hand, helping you through it. And I want you to be by mine, if you’re willing.”

  I smile, because he finally gets it. “Jackson, I’ve always been willing. Enthusiastically willing, even.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you so much for so long. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you’ll let me.”

  I get up and plant my knees on either side of his legs, straddling his lap. Jackson grips my hips as he relaxes back into the cushions.

  “I thought I’d scared you off last night. I shouldn’t have been so blunt.”

  “You were just being honest.” He gives me a long, soft kiss. “There isn’t a single thing about a lifetime with you that scares me, Birdie.”

  With a giddy, teasing smile, I play with the hair at the nape of his neck the way he likes. “Only a lifetime?”

  He shrugs. “I’m trying not to be too greedy. However long my life is, I want the rest of it to be with you.”

  “I want the rest of mine to be with you, too.”

  He beams, his eyes bright and beautiful. It took four painful years to get to this place, but every second was worth it.

  “I love you, Jackson.” He holds me tighter, so close I can feel his heart beating against mine.

  “I love you, too.”

  Soft, tender kisses turn heated and needy, and we make out like a couple of teenagers until our shirts are hanging off the edge of the coffee table and we’re both hungry for more.

  Jackson lifts us both up in one steady, graceful movement. He carries me to my bedroom like I weigh nothing, and his strength is an absolute turn on. I must moan a little as I’m paying special attention to the skin just below Jackson’s ear, because he lets out a rumbling laugh.

  His body’s been through so much, and I know it won’t always work the way he wishes it would. I won’t take the times when it does for granted.

  “That was easy,” I say. “Today must be one of your good days.”

  He pulls back and grins. It starts off sweet and transitions into a dirty little promise. “A very good day.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  When the sun is setting and casting my apartment in a warm evening glow, I laze around in my bed, draped in Jackson’s shirt. He walks out of the bathroom, a crisp white towel wrapped around his hips. He lets it drop to the floor before he crawls under the covers and snuggles up next to me.

  “You have absolutely nothing in your shower,” he says, pressing a kiss against my shoulder. “I had to wash my hair with a bar of soap.”

  I press my face against his hair and breathe deep. “And you smell so very fresh and clean.”

  He laughs.

  “All my shower stuff is in the huge suitcase by the door. The one that you stepped over to get into my living room.”

  Jackson sits up and rests his body weight on his shoulder, leaning over the side of the bed to look out my bedroom door. The corner of his mouth tilts up.

  “Where were you going?”

  I drape my arm across his shoulder and pull him into a kiss. “To talk some sense into you.”

  “Do you think you packed enough? That suitcase is so huge it looks like ten other suitcases will pop out when you open it,” he says sarcastically.

  “I wasn’t planning on coming back, so. Yeah.”

  His eyes widen. “What?”

  “This past week made me remember who my family is. Where I’m the best version of me I can be. Where my heart is. And that’s not here. I think it’s time that I stopped pretending that it is.”

  Jackson knits his fingers through my hair and gives me a long, searching look. “I would’ve come up here every weekend to be with you if I had to.”

  “I know you would have,” I say, lacing our fingers together. “But now you don’t have to. Also…”

  I peel myself away from him for just a second, long enough to grab the stack of papers I brought in while Jackson was in the shower, along with a couple of journals I fished out of a box in my closet.

  With the sheet pooled at my waist, I pull him up until he’s sitting beside me, and hand everything over.

  “What’s this?” he asks.

  “A grand gesture.”

  His brows knit together in an adorably confused way as he cracks open the first journal. He draws a quick breath when he realizes what I’ve given him.

  “It’s my writing from college.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” he says, even though his eyes stay glued to the pages.

  “Yes I do. I didn’t have the confidence to share it with you then, but I do now. I want you to read it. There are some things in there that might make you understand how much I love you, even more than I can say.”

&nb
sp; He reverently places the books and papers down beside him. “Thank you. I can’t wait to read it all.”

  “A lot of it’s, uh…unpolished, to be generous.”

  He smiles. “I don’t care. I’ve always been your biggest fan, Bird.”

  I lean back and tug him down on top of me, wanting him nice and close. “I’m starting to understand that,” I say.

  His hand wanders across my ribs, teasing the skin there as he pulls the hem of his shirt up, up, up.

  “So we’re really doing this, huh? You and me?”

  “We’re really doing it,” I tell him.

  “You’re coming home.”

  I press my lips against his and linger. “Yeah. I promised Ayanna I would help her out with the B&B for the first few weeks, but then…then, who knows. I’ll find a place, and—”

  “Bird,” he whispers. He holds my face in his hands, looking at me like I’m his whole world. “You already have a place.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nods. “Yeah. Stay with me.”

  The words that were such a burden for him all those years ago are nothing but light and hope now. They’re heavy, but full of promises. They’re the start of a new beginning.

  We’re both teary eyed, with nothing but a lifetime ahead of us this time around.

  He kisses me and whispers, “Stay with me.”

  That’s exactly what I do.

  Every morning at 8 on the dot, Lexie James positions herself in the front window of her bakery, The Sweet Spot. There’s a neon pink sign with the name of the shop on it hanging there, which offers her the perfect angle to ogle the guy who owns the gym across the street as he walks to work.

  Lexie pretends to polish the sign as she appreciates all the hard work he’s put into looking like that.

  Gym Guy is tall and broad-chested, with thighs like tree trunks and tanned skin the color of Lexie’s famous butterscotch frosting. He’s blessed with a chiseled Hollywood jawline and piercing blue eyes.

  He is beautiful, and today he’s right on time, doing a better job at waking her up than a thousand cold showers ever could.

  He’s wearing a black t-shirt that clings to his impressive torso, and his biceps are testing his poor sleeves to their limits. His dark brown hair is wet, like he just got out of the shower. Lexie momentarily loses herself in the thought of him wet and naked.

  She doesn’t know Gym Guy’s name, but he’s a frequent star in her dirtiest daydreams. Since opening The Sweet Spot, Lexie’s social life has been non-existent. Her live has been non-stop work. The first casualty of her business venture was her relationship with her now ex-boyfriend Scott. Turns out he was all talk when it came to supporting her dreams. After she’d had to cancel date night twice due to her employees calling out sick, he broke up with her the night before a huge rehearsal dinner order was due.

  He’d promised to help her pack up and deliver the cupcakes to the venue. Instead he spent the evening at a baseball game with his friends. Lexie pulled an all-nighter, heartbroken and angrily shoveling day-old red velvet cake into her mouth to help ease the pain.

  It’s probably for the best; she needs to put her business first. She just wishes that someone could explain that to her mother, who’s constantly harassing her about being a workaholic. She’s worried that Lexie is going to lose herself in her job and forget to find herself a husband.

  She knows her mother means well, but the fixation on her love life is annoying. It doesn’t help that…yeah, sometimes Lexie is a lonely, horny mess.

  That’s where Gym Guy comes in. He’s the star of the show when she’s lying in bed, exhausted but too worried about the future of her business to sleep. She just closes her eyes, pictures his face, and slips her hand between her legs.

  Works every time.

  “I’m pretty sure drooling all over the place is some kind of health code violation.” Lexie’s best friend Corinna pops out of nowhere, startling the dust rag out of Lexie’s hand. She dramatically clutches her chest as she reaches down and picks it up.

  “I wasn’t drooling,” Lexie says breathlessly as she attempts to calm her racing heart. “And where the hell did you come from? I didn’t even hear you come in!” Which is worrisome, considering there’s a giant cowbell hanging on the bakery door that rings every time someone opens it.

  Ah, the power of Gym Guy. Lexie thinks that anyone whose body causes situational deafness deserves several gold stars.

  “I walked through the door and there you were, all heart-eyed and catatonic with lust.”

  “I was not,” Lexie lies.

  “I didn’t know you were hot for Hunter.”

  “You know him?” The last thing she needs is to be having fantasies about a guy Corinna is interested in.

  “I’m not interested in him if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I’m not worried! I mean, yes, I would definitely lose in a head-to-head competition with you, because you have that blonde sun-kissed thing going on and the glow of a person who actually gets eight hours of sleep every night.”

  Corinna lets out a half-hearted laugh. “Lex, you’re beautiful. C’mon.”

  Lexie raises her brow.

  “I’m serious! You’re a gorgeous ray of sunshine. A beautiful pixie who rains delicious baked goods down on everyone in town.”

  Okay, she’s maybe starting to buy into Corinna’s flattery. Just a little.

  Lexie isn’t insecure about her appearance, but she’s a realist. She’s pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way, but ever since she started the business, she’s had bags under her eyes that even the world’s best concealer has difficulty covering, the pallor of a person hunched over baking trays all day, and this ever-present fine layer of flour and confectioners sugar has dulled her formerly shiny brown curls.

  She doesn’t look terrible, but she isn’t going to fool herself into thinking the past few months hasn’t taken its toll on her.

  “So, how do you know him?”

  “I went into the gym last week to see about hiring a personal trainer. It costs a small fortune, but I want to get in shape for Tony and Michelle’s wedding. That bridesmaid’s dress shows every ounce of fat on me, and I’m getting some cupcake flab.” She pats her belly. “This is my sweet spot.”

  Lexie rolls her eyes, ignoring the comment. Corinna doesn’t have an ounce of fat on her. She’s always been able to stuff her face with anything she wants without suffering the consequences, and from what Lexie can see, that hasn’t changed.

  “Anyway,” she continues. “Hunter was at the front desk when I was there. He didn’t try to pressure me into anything and he seemed nice.”

  “That’s good,” Lexie replies, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing.

  Corinna gives her a knowing look. “Like I said, I’m not interested. There is a guy who works for him that I wouldn’t mind letting off a little sexual frustration with, but I don’t know how I feel about letting a personal trainer see me naked.”

  “First of all, your body is amazing. Second…it would go straight to the naked phase, huh?”

  She shrugs. “Of course he’d fall for my beauty and my wit first. And once he was in that deep he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of me.”

  “Obviously,” Lexie agrees.

  “But I’m not over at the gym working out with a hot personal trainer. I’m here, ready and willing to support your local business.”

  “I made those lemon cupcakes you like.” Corinna follows Lexie back to the counter and sighs dreamily. “Marry me.”

  “Only if the ring is huge.” Lexie pours a large coffee, then pops Corinna’s daily cupcake in a cute pink box.

  “You’ll get the biggest rock my Visa limit can accommodate.”

  Even though Lexie always tries to give Corinna her treats on the house, she insists on paying. Lexie hands over her change and Corinna heads to the door. She stops halfway there.

  “I think you should go over and talk to Hunter. He’s hot and he�
��s nice. You deserve hot and nice.”

  Lexie isn’t going to argue with her there, but it isn’t the right time for her to be getting into a relationship. Business is picking up, and she’s starting to get bigger catering orders. The next few months will be make-or-break for her, and she doesn’t know if she has the time to devote to a relationship right now.

  Despite the loneliness that kicks in occasionally, she isn’t even sure that she wants one.

  “Don’t do that thing where you talk yourself out of taking the very good advice that I’m giving you,” Corinna says. “Go talk to him. Remember…hot and nice.”

  Lexie narrows her eyes. “Do I need to remind you about Scott?”

  “Mmmm…no.” Corinna taps her chin. “He was a cut-and-run shithead who should never know happiness. I remember him quite well, and I’m going to take this time to remind you that not everyone is a Scott. I think ol’ Biceps McGee across the street might surprise you if you give him a chance.”

  Lexie laughs. “You sound like my mom.”

  “I always said she was a smart woman.”

  “I just don’t know if this is a good time to start something.”

  “Not everything has to end with a walk down the aisle. Have some fun. He looks like someone you could have a lot of fun with.”

  “Noted,” Lexie says. “You’re gonna be late for work.”

  “Think about what I said,” Corinna calls out as she walks out the door.

  Lexie retakes her spot at the window, but Hunter is already gone.

  ON SALE AUGUST 2019!

  A year ago, if someone had told me that I would be spending a Friday night in an airport trying to pick up a guy, I would’ve laughed in their face.

  A year ago I was still with Ethan.

  Back then I would’ve thought that I would be getting married this weekend, not traveling across the country to my best friend Gabby’s wedding. But Ethan had other plans, like fucking some random chick he met at happy hour on my 1,000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. He thought I was working late. I came home early.

  Surprise!

  Ethan is the reason I don’t work late anymore. He’s also the reason I promised myself that I wouldn’t fall in love again. I’d be crazy to open myself up to that kind of heartbreak again, right?