Page 98 of The One You Want

I stared at him, completely bewildered. “A girl likeme?”

A shadow of his usual smile tugged at his lips. “Oh, come on. You’ve always been totally out of my league. You’re gorgeous and funny and so damn talented. And smart—you went to Harvard, for God’s sake. I took a two year horticultural program at a communitycollege.”

“That doesn’t make you less intelligent,” I argued, because it was the one part of his statement that I could make sense of. The rest of it, all those things he said about me? Him being out of my league? It made nosense.

“I’ve never felt worse about anything in my life,” he whispered. “I’ve always believed you were stronger than you realized. I should have trusted that—should have trustedyou—and just told you the truth that day.” I was shocked to see wetness clouding the perfect chocolate brown of his eyes. “I let my own insecurities keep me from asking you out for ages. And then I let them screw up the best thing I everhad.”

Well, I knew a thing or two about insecurities. Except—wait a minute. What did he justsay?

“You wanted to ask me out forages?”

He gave a bitter chuckle. “Of course I did. Wasn’t I completely obvious? I mooned around after you like a little puppy. Jesus, why do you think I got so pissy when you asked me to pretend to date you? I’d been trying to get up the courage to do it for real allsummer.”

No. No he hadn’t. That was just…no.

Grant was watching me closely, shaking his head. “God, you still really don’t see it, doyou?”

“Seewhat?”

“Howamazingyou are. How kind your heart is. How loyal you are to your friends. How sexy it is to watch you selling your jewelry—you’re just so damn competent every time you step behind that market booth. You blow me away, Jenny. You always have.” He swallowed. “You’re everything I ever wanted in another person and I can’t believe I was stupid enough to let yougo.”

“Grant.”

He took my hands in his again, squeezing tight so I couldn’t let go. “I know that you lose sight of your confidence sometimes, being on this island and dealing with your grandparents. I know you see yourself as shy and awkward.” He shook his head, like it didn’t make any sense to him. “But I see you, Jenny. I know exactly what you are because I’ve alwaysseenyou.”

Of course I was crying again. I couldn’t seem to stop. Grant released one hand so he could brush the tears from my cheeks but held tight to the other one. “Is there any way you can forgive me? I…we can do whatever you want, Jenny. I want you to have that business. You deserve it. I’ll help you get a plan together so you can try for a bank loan. Or I’ll sell my truck for the start up money. You can work at my shop to make ends meet. Hell, you can live at my place—I have two spare bedrooms if you need a place to stay while you get thingsstarted.”

God, I wanted to kiss him. My anger had dimmed, overshadowed by my love for him. By the completely shocking realization that he’d liked me all this time. That he sawme.

Before I could act on the impulse, Grant continued, his voice slower now, heavy. “Or, if you want to, I can step back. If you want to use the money from your grandparents, that’s your call. I would never judge you for it.” He gave me a wan smile. “These last few days have shown me that it’s going to be really damn hard for me to let you go.” He swallowed hard. “But I’ll do it. If that’s what youwant.”

“It’s not what I want,” I whispered, the truth of my words washing over me. “It’s not at all what Iwant.”

His expression remained wary, but I was pretty sure there was a glint of hope there. “Whatdoyouwant?”

“I want to be with you,” I said simply, and it felt so good to admit that truth. “I want to be with youand—”

I completely forgot whatever else I was going to say because Grant had lunged for me, his hands coming up to cradle my cheeks as he pressed his lips against mine. His kiss was both a rush of comfort and shot of excitement all at the same time. For the first time in my life, I knew I was right where I was supposed to be. WithGrant.

“I love you,” he whispered against my mouth. “I should have told you weeks ago. I think I always lovedyou.”

I pulled away from him, grinning at the little distressed noise he made. But I wanted to look him in the eye when I said this. “I love you,too.”

Shock and happiness mixed on his face. “Youdo?”

I nodded. “I was actually on my way to the market to tell you that,” I said. “I didn’t think you felt the same way after everything that happened, but I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn’t sayit.”

His grin was as beautiful as anything I had ever seen. “See? I told you that you werebrave.”

I laughed, reaching for him, needing more of his lips and hands and body. But he stopped me, looking deep into my eyes. “I’m so sorry I hurt you,Jenny.”

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I should have been brave enough to talk to you that day instead of just taking what you said at face value. I should have been brave enough to tell you how I felt.” He opened his mouth to object and I placed a finger over his lips to head him off. “Can we just promise that from now on we talk about this stuff? I want us to be honest with eachother.”

Beneath my finger he grinned. “I can honestly say that I love you and I missed you likecrazy.”

“Metoo.”

He was up in a flash, pulling me with him. And just like that last day we’d had together, he tossed me over his shoulder, heading to the bedroom. This time, I laughed with glee—until Grant let out a loudyelp.