Page 58 of Matched By Mistake
Loving Jericho hadn’t been easy in the last few days and more than anything she wanted to yell for joy, but she was cautious.
“You love me even though you thought I was a criminal,” she said. She needed to understand where he was coming from.
He took a step closer to her and she saw him reach out toward her but drop his hand before he touched her. She wanted his touch. She wanted to be able to believe he really loved her because she’d missed him so damn much and she knew that if he was lying to her...
But Jericho wouldn’t lie about this. He’d always been blunt and honest. Even when he thought she’d broken into Winters Industries he hadn’t hedged. He’d told her.
So that meant...
“You really do love me.”
“I do,” he said. “I know it’s going to take a long time for you to forgive me. It’s going to take me a long time to forgive myself as well.”
“No,” she said. Knowing it wasn’t going to take that long to forgive him.
“No?”
“It’s not going to take any time at all for me to forgive you, Jericho,” she started. Then paused trying to find the right words.
“You can’t?” he asked, sounding forlorn.
“I can. I love you, too,” she said. “Now, it is going to take me a minute to get over being mad—”
Jericho pulled her into his arms and swung her off her feet as he brought his mouth down on hers. Everything that had been tense over the last two days seemed to finally relax as she felt his tongue moving over hers. The kiss was intense and passionate and then he gentled it, setting her on her feet. His hands moved up and down her back as he lifted his head.
“I love you,” he said, looking right into her eyes. “I was so afraid to tell you that I was willing to believe anything that would prove I was wrong about these feelings.”
She put her hand on his face, looking into those deep brown eyes of his that made her melt. “I love you, too. I was afraid to trust my gut and let myself fall for you, but it happened anyway.”
“Will you marry me?”
“What?” Being engaged again. Having the town of Royal know she was going to be married. Could she do it? She knew that this was Jericho and he’d never leave her the way Randall had. But could she trust herself enough to wear his ring and walk around town planning another wedding without... Could she trust him?
That was what he was asking her. She could say she loved him and say she forgave him but the truth was she had to trust him.
And she knew in her heart and soul there was no other man she trusted the way she did Jericho Winters.
“Will you marry me?”
“What about our families?” she asked. She knew the feud was still going strong due to the break-in.
“I don’t care about our families, sweet Mags. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, have kids with you. I want it all and I’m asking you—”
“Yes. I’ll marry you,” she said. Then realized what she’d agreed to. She waited for the panic to set in, but it didn’t. There was something about the way Jericho had stated his desires for the future that had made her believe in it and want it, too.
“Thank you for agreeing to be my wife,” he said. “I don’t have a ring on me.”
“That’s fine. We both know what we want from each other,” she said.
“We do,” he agreed. “Come home with me so I can make love to you and we can plan our future?”
“Yes.”
They left her brother’s ranch together in Jericho’s sports car. As he drove with his usual speed and skill, she couldn’t help remembering the first time they’d made love at his house. He let them into the gated community he lived in and drove to his house. They barely made it inside before they were in each other’s arms, ripping clothing off. It felt like it had been ages since he’d been inside her, and they came together, long and hard. Then he carried her into the living room and they cuddled naked on the couch.
She looked up and saw the painting she had made for him hanging over the fireplace.
He saw her looking at it and hugged her closer to him. “From the moment I saw this, I knew I had to get you back. No one has ever seen my work as art but you did from the beginning. You might be the one person in the world who actually gets me.”
