From the Jump(92)

I laugh, but it’s ninety percent fueled by nerves at finding myself alone with Deiss. Unlike me, he doesn’t seem to be the slightest bit affected by our sudden proximity. His gaze is clear and steady as it meets mine. Rather than calming my nerves, this only makes me more flustered.

“I had a plan,” I say inanely, swaying in front of him.

“A plan to what?”

“To make things better.” I offer a hopeful smile that he doesn’t return. “To get you to give me another chance.”

“What was it?” His voice betrays nothing.

“We thought of a couple, actually.” I begin to pace in front of him, taking three short steps to one side of the boat before crossing to the other. My hair whips against my face. The sunset is getting sharper now. Instead of making the entire sky glow, the oranges and reds are getting more concentrated, separating themselves into individual strips. “But I’m leaning toward the one where I convince a bunch of journalists that someone else is Brendan Davis. I haven’t figured out who yet. Maybe some guy who’s already dead? And the goal would be to flood the internet with that, so it would drown out the reports about you.”

“Sounds ambitious,” he says dryly.

“I think it could work, though.” My voice flares frantically. “If I just try hard enough. I could make up fake Twitter accounts and try to spread it there. And put up a billboard. Maybe I could even get a real newspaper to pick it up.”

He rises to his feet as I pass, smooth as a panther, and catches me around the waist with one arm, stopping me in my tracks before I realize what’s happening. “I just wanted a call,” he says quietly, his gorgeous mouth suddenly inches from mine.

I blink at him, too mesmerized by his closeness to be able to formulate a response.

“Do you know how many people have come into Sounds this week looking for Brendan Davis?” he asks.

I shake my head, not wanting to know.

“Too many,” he says simply. “Way too many to undo it. It’s out now, and that’s fine. It has to be. What’s not fine is that you left.”

“I wish I hadn’t.” The honesty of my words sends tears rushing to my eyes, and for once, I’m unsuccessful at holding them in. They burn as they push their way out, the feel of them shocking against my cheeks.

“You said we weren’t meant to last,” he reminds me.

I nod miserably.

“But we could,” he says, surprising me with his insistence.

“We could.” I mean to agree with him, but my words come out too high, like I’m asking a question.

“We could,” he repeats firmly, sweeping a warm thumb across my cheek to wipe my tears away. “I love you, Liv. I’ve loved you for a third of my life, and I’ll continue to love you for the rest of it. And I can do that as a friend if that’s what you need. But if you want more, you have to know that I’m not going anywhere.”

My heart rate picks up speed with every word he says, and by the end it’s racing. Strangely, my euphoria doesn’t stop the tears. It seems to fuel them. Not in my wildest dreams have I imagined Lucas Deiss promising to love me for the rest of his life.

“I want more,” I blurt stupidly as a rogue tear makes it all the way down to my neck.

Deiss laughs and covers my mouth with his, kissing me in a way that makes my knees weak.

“Sorry to interrupt,” says an unwelcome voice I recognize as Mac’s. “But this thing is trying to kill me.”

Deiss’s arm tightens around my waist before he reluctantly pulls back. “We’re having a moment here.”

“It’s my wedding day,” Mac says, holding his arms out in front of him as a wriggling ball of fur claws at his hands. He looks casually gorgeous in his khakis and white linen button-up, except for the red marks that line his left arm. “And now I’m going to be all scratched up in the photos.”

“Sorry,” Deiss says. “She was at Sounds with me when you called and told me you were in trouble. Maybe if you’d just been a normal person and said you wanted to meet up, I would’ve realized I had time to drop her at home.”

“Is that . . .” I squint at the proffered kitten before pulling loose from Deiss to grab her. “Fluff Daddy!”

I cradle her to my chest, and miraculously, she calms, staring up at me as if she remembers me. “How did you get her?” I ask, staring back at her in disbelief.

“I took a little drive down to Brantley,” Deiss says, sliding his hand down her side and eliciting a rumbling purr before she swipes at him. “I thought we could raise her together. If you want to move back in, that is. If not, I’m willing to cede custody to you.”

“But I don’t understand,” I say, despite the fact that everything in me is warning me not to ask questions and simply say, Yes! Yes, please! I’d love to move back in with you and this perfect, gleefully violent creature! “I walked away. Why would you drive all that way just to get a cat for me?”

“Because I knew you missed Cat Stevens,” Deiss says. “And whether we ended up together or not, I thought Fluff Daddy would make you happy.”

“I love you.” I breathe the words, feeling as if they’re coming somewhere from deep inside my soul.

“Then you’re going to love me even more when I tell you I’ve found Cat Stevens.”