Lindsay kept quiet, hearing me out while my heart thundered underneath her ear. “It took losing you for me to realize that just because it happened fast didn’t make it any less true. I fell head over fucking heels for you, so fast and so hard that I didn’t even realize it was happening until it was too late.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?”
“Why would I lie to you about this?” I pulled back to look into her eyes, stroking my thumb along her cheekbone. “Why would I leave an Air Force convention where the only thing I did was talk about you to a total stranger, only to come here to tell you everything? You’ve already told me my job is safe, and I trusted you when you said it. There’s no reason for me to be lying, and I’m not.”
“I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but I just don’t know how to trust you about any of this. I trusted you so completely, and yet you took that trust and tossed it against the bungalow walls and left it shattered all over the floors. I can’t think of any ulterior motives for you to be here, but I also can’t just forget how I felt when I woke up without you.”
Panic flared up inside me. I hadn’t thought this would be easy, but I also still hadn’t quite realized the extent of the damage I’d caused to our relationship.
“There’s nothing I can say that will make you trust me again, but if you’ll let me, I’ll spend every day for the rest of my life proving it to you.”
“The rest of your life?” Her eyes flew wide open. “Are you—”
“No.” I laughed softly, closing my eyes as I wound a hand into her hair again. “I’m not proposing. I would if I thought it would help convince you of how serious I am, but I don’t think it would, and I’m not fucking up again, Lindsay.”
Her chest deflated against mine as she let out a relieved sigh. “Thank God.”
“I will tell you this, though. You’re the only woman I want. I am going to marry you one day if you’ll have me. I promise that by the time I ask, you’ll know with every fiber of your being how much I love you and I would rather die before I hurt you again.”
“Die? That’s a little dramatic.” The slight lightness in her tone sparked the kind of hope in my chest that I’d never felt before.
“It might be dramatic, but it’s also true. I might not be asking you to marry me, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not making promises I intend on keeping. I will love you for the rest of my life, even though I’m not putting a ring on your finger tonight. I’m yours, Linds. What you do with me is up to you, but it doesn’t make me any less yours.”
When she pulled away, I thought it was over. I thought she was about to tell me that my five minutes were up and to get the fuck out of her office. But then she looked up at me, and my knees damn near buckled in relief.
“It might only have been a week, Jaxon. I know some people will think that we’re crazy or infatuated or maybe even that we’re just plain stupid, but I love you too.”
My heart swelled to three times its normal size, but she wasn’t done yet. She planted her palms over my chest, one of them directly over the organ that felt like it was only beating for her now.
“I wasn’t ready to admit that was what I was feeling back on the island either, but I planned on talking to you that morning. I wanted to tell you that my feelings were real and to ask if you felt the same way.”
I groaned. “Fuck. I’m such an idiot. I could’ve saved us both so much fucking heartache if I’d stayed for that conversation.”
“Maybe, but like you said, the time apart really did put things in perspective. You are an idiot, though. I’m just thankful that you’re my idiot.”
“All yours, Linds. Forever. If people think that makes me crazy, they can all go fuck themselves.”
“Eloquently put, as always.” She trembled in my arms and I froze, again thinking that she was crying until I looked down and realized she was laughing. “This time, however, I agree with you completely. I don’t