Love unexpected, p.21
Love Unexpected, page 21
part #2 of Unexpected Series
Jenna stopped right before she ran into Conner’s broad chest. “What?” she asked with confusion.
He didn’t even bother wiping the water from his face. “What happens after you find her?” Not giving her time to answer his rhetorical question, he continued, “You leave? Go home and go back to avoiding me whenever we see each other? That’s nearly impossible.”
“I--I…” she stammered while wrapping her arms around herself. “I could move,” Jenna added with conviction but very unconvincingly. “Or at least switch jobs.”
“Or, you could admit you’re just as much in love with me as I am with you.”
Jenna’s eyes opened wide and stared at him in shock. The moment lasted a full beat before Jenna started wandering around again. “You are so full of yourself, Conner Young,” she stated loudly. “I swear--you think you’re God’s gift to women. I told you I wasn’t here to make friends and I wasn’t interested in you.”
Conner stayed where he was, but turned toward her. “Do you want to be alone forever?” He practically had to shout at her from their twenty-foot distance apart.
Jenna stopped where she was and turned around. “What?”
He marched toward her. The rain kept falling, but it at least subsided to a light drizzle. He stopped inches in front of her. “A very wise red-headed nine-year old asked me the same question a few minutes ago. Do you want to be alone forever? She said it’s a simple question.”
Jenna sucked in her bottom lip and looked toward the sky. “I don’t need you,” she said as she shook her head.
Conner took a deep hiccuped breath and placed his hands on her shoulders. “That may very well be true, but I need you.” She looked up at him and lightly traced the outline of his bruise. His make-up must have dripped away with the rain.
“How did you get this?” she asked again.
He closed his eyes as he relished in her gentle touch. “I’d like to say I was defending your honor, but really, I was being an idiot, and Patrick was trying to knock some sense into me.”
“We’re not dating anymore,” she said seriously.
“I know,” Conner said with a stoic stare.
His hands cautiously moved in tandem from her shoulders to her neck, his thumbs caressing the skin between her ear and cheek. He took a step closer, ridding them of any space between them.
Jenna’s eyes flicked back and forth between Conner’s, then fell to his lips, then slowly returned to his green irises that had to be speaking to her. His Adam's apple bobbed hard against his neck as he swallowed.
“Jenna,” he said almost as a whisper. “Do you want to be alone forever?”
She blinked several times, tears mixing with the rain through her wet lashes. “You don’t really need me.”
“Jenna,” Conner breathed again, this time like a lullaby. “I know that I will stay only a small fraction of the man I could be if I don’t have you by my side. You make me a better man than I ever thought I could be.”
Her tongue slipped between her lips as she rolled them together and let out a slow shaky breath. Everything around them disappeared. Despite the cold rain and their sopping wet clothes, Conner felt like he was on fire. He slipped one of his large hands farther into her red locks, cradling her neck. His other hand stroked along the length of her jaw. He tilted her chin as another moment stretched between them. Their hot breaths met and Conner felt lightning strike his heart, making it beat rapidly.
Conner traced her bottom lip with the pad of this tumb, sucking in a breath at their closeness. Her eyes stared at him with something he hadn’t seen from her before. Before she could change her mind, he lowered his lips to meet with hers.
Like magic, the rain stopped, only rogue droplets remaining. His chest tightened in a completely new way--every thought fading away with every breath that was stolen from the touch of her lips to his. This was what incandescently happy felt like.
Much too soon, Jenna pulled back, raising a hand to her lips. “What was that?” she asked with shock.
“Well, if I have to tell you, then I must have done a really bad job at it.”
“You kissed me,” she added dumbfoundedly.
“And you kissed me back.” With his signature grin, Conner pulled her closer, lessening the distance between them. His eyes once again locked with hers. “You are a rainbow in a rainstorm, Jenna Crane.”
It was her who inched closer this time. “Even if I sometimes cause the storm?”
Conner lightly kissed each of her cheeks. Then, beside her eyes, her nose, and then beside her mouth. “I don’t mind getting wet.”
He leaned forward to kiss her again, but she threw up a hand between their lips. “It’s not just me,” she blurted. “I’m a package deal with a very opinionated little girl who will probably only get worse.”
Conner’s lips returned to a smile. “You’re worth every bit of headache that will come from raising that teenage girl together.”
“So, you’re really in this for the long haul?” Her eyebrow rose and the corner of her lips upturned into a smirk at her statement.
He came centimeters from her mouth. “I’d like to see you try and get rid of me.” Before she could argue any further, he pressed another kiss to her lips, this one lasting much longer than before. Her hands slid up to his chest and under his arms, wrapping her arms around him as he angled her mouth toward his. Each moment felt like a searing fire branding his soul.
Jenna Crane would be his forever. True love felt pretty amazing.
Epilogue
Jenna sat in the passenger seat of her boyfriend’s car, staring at him in absolute awe, wondering how she got so lucky. Harriet was asleep in the backseat. It had been a busy day for them. Jenna thought about joining her sister in slumber, but then she would miss out on quality time with the man she loved.
She was absolutely, more madly than anything else, in love with Conner Young. They’d been together for several months. Not all of it was blissful. They still loved to argue more than anything else, but as long as they made up, all was well in the world. They were both still Account Executives for Young Advertising, each of them competing for who could bring in more accounts, but they also joined forces from time to time. Their offices even shared a wall.
Jenna worried they would get sick of each other, but it hadn’t happened yet.
She leaned the side of her head back on the headrest and she played with the curls at the hairline on Conner’s neck. “I love you,” she said sweetly and quietly.
Jenna watched as the corner of his mouth upturned into his signature smirk. “I love you, too.”
She sighed. “Can you believe Danny got married today?”
“Hardly,” Conner snorted. “And on Valentine’s Day of all days.” He reached over and grabbed her hand, their fingers weaving together. “I guess it really is possible for everyone to find true love.”
“Is that something you would want to do--get married?” she queried cautiously. They had talked about it once before, but they decided early on to take their time with this relationship. It was more Jenna’s idea than his. He was ready to jump in with both feet and elope right after Ben and Steph’s wedding.
Marriage was a big commitment.
She also worried what Mr. Young would say to her dating the boss’s son. To her surprise, he was actually happy for them. Wade even remarked he wondered if they would hit it off when he first met her--said she had moxy that would be good for his son. Connie Young was still coming around to the idea that her son wasn’t dating a socialite and that Jenna was raising her now ten-year old sister.
Conner rubbed her thumb with his own. “I sincerely hope so. You are making me wait until marriage, after all.” He turned toward her and winked. “I did presume marriage would happen one day when I agreed to that.”
Keeping her connection with Conner, Jenna turned to face the front again.
“What’s going on in that beautiful fiery head of yours?” Jenna shrugged. “It’s not like you to be so quiet,” he added lovingly.
“Just thinking about how different my life is now from what it was a year ago.”
Conner pulled off, driving into the gravel until he reached an open field.
Jenna started to panic a little bit. “What are you doing?”
He parked the car and squeezed her hand. “Do you trust me?”
How could she not trust those emerald eyes? They held the keys to her happiness.
She nodded hesitantly. “But you better not be bringing me out here to shoot me and bury my body,” she said scoldingly. “I will haunt you forever if you do, Conner Young.”
He laughed and kissed her hand. “Come on,” he said before opening his door.
Jenna checked the back seat to make sure Harriet was alright. She was seated right behind where Conner had been, her head resting on the cool window, still passed out from the exhaustion of playing with little Sarah all day.
Jenna opened her door and joined Conner on his trunk. He helped her as she jumped onto it. Their feet dangled as Conner once against clasped their hands.
He looked above them, admiring the night sky. “These stars remind me of your freckles.” She shoved his shoulder with her arm. “I’m serious. There’s way too many to count, but they’re outstandingly beautiful, each one unique and part of a far more enchanting and mesmerizing overall picture.”
Just as Jenna leaned over to put her head on his shoulder, Conner readjusted to get something from the interior pocket of his suit jacket. He handed it to her and she examined the packaging. “A Calypso Lotta?” she asked with excitement.
“I thought you could use some chocolate.”
As she started opening the crinkling plastic, Conner jumped off the trunk, turned toward her, and looked into her eyes. The moonlight beams shadowed part of his face, but it was enough for Jenna to see that he was nervous.
“What’s going on, Conner?” she asked with slight fear. “Are you breaking up with me? I know I can be difficult, but that’s no reason to--” Conner silenced her rambles with a kiss.
It did the trick because when he pulled away, her eyes stayed closed as she reeled from the currents that were shooting throughout her body. Even after all this time, each kiss still felt like the first.
When she opened her eyes, Conner was bent down on one knee.
“I was going to wait until tomorrow, knowing you hate the cliche romantic things, but I figured now was as good of a time as any.” He motioned to the chocolate that she was still holding in her hand. “Open it.”
With trembling hands, she broke apart the chocolate shell to find inside a sparkling diamond ring. The hand that wasn’t holding it moved to cover her mouth as her bottom lip started to quiver and tears watered her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they ended up running down her cheeks. Conner wiped them away and grabbed both of her hands in his. “I can’t think of a better way to end our first Valentine’s Day together than by you agreeing to let me be your husband. Jenna Eloise Crane, will you marry me?”
Jenna nodded her head incessantly. Conner quickly rose and pressed his lips to those of his fiance. The kiss tasted salty from her tears. Their foreheads pressed together, both of their chests heaving rapidly, as Conner took the ring from her hands and placed it on her finger. She held her left hand in front of her and let the ring sparkle in the starlight.
“Does this mean I get to stay young forever?”
Conner’s chest lifted with a deep laugh. “Absolutely. Forever and always.”
Acknowledgement
THANK YOU!!! Thank you for reading this book. Writing is very much for me, but reading is entirely for you. I love putting these characters and situations onto "paper."
And thank you to my amazing beta readers (you know who you are) for being fantastic! I couldn't have asked for better. Y'all went above and beyond.
And my boys--you're my reason for everything. You're phenomenal and going to be amazing men some day, but don't grow up too soon. Please.
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