Page 26 of Before You (Reckless Love #2)

“I promise, I had no ulterior motives when I approached you this morning,” JJ says, breaking the quiet.

I hold my breath, waiting for him to continue.

“You looked lost and I wanted to help, but once I looked into your eyes, I knew I’d follow you to the ends of the Earth if you asked me to.

It probably sounds stupid, but I’ll tell you anything you want to know. ”

I try to make it a habit not to chew my nails in front of other people but especially now because I have no desire to break apart our pinkies.

“Even if I wanted to know your last name?” I ask, turning my head to look into his vibrant green eyes almost the same shade as the grass his head is resting on.

“Anything does include my last name if you want to know it. I’m following your lead.”

“What’s something you’ve never told someone before?” I ask. He pulls his bottom lip into his mouth as he thinks, and honestly, if I didn’t want to hear what JJ says, I’d probably lean over and kiss him.

“When I was younger, I think . . . around four, my parents were inside feeding my older sister and my little brothers. We had a pool in our backyard and I really wanted to go swimming, but I knew I wasn’t allowed in the pool without my parents so I was waiting.

Except I dropped the toy I was playing with in the water, and when I tried to grab it, I fell into the deep end.

” I inhale, concerned about the direction this story is headed in.

Obviously he didn’t drown if he’s in front of me, but I guess he could be a ghost for all I know.

It wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen today.

I reach over, pressing my hand to his forehead, and to my relief, JJ feels real. Then I pinch myself and I can definitely feel it. I am for sure awake.

“What are you doing?” he asks, seeming puzzled by my actions.

“Making sure you’re not a ghost and I’m not dreaming.”

JJ smiles widely, and it’s beautiful. His smile transforms his whole face from something handsome to dangerously beautiful “I’m not a ghost and you’re not dreaming.”

I turn on my side to face him completely, holding tight to his pinky. “What happened next?”

“I didn’t know how to swim, but I remember this woman helping me.

She helped me swim back to the surface before lifting me onto the side of the pool.

I swear I felt a kiss on my forehead and then she said goodbye.

My parents came out and found me completely drenched, holding the toy in my hand on the concrete next to the deep end.

They asked what happened, and I told them I fell in, but Carly saved me,” he says, a wistful smile on his face.

“Wait—and she just left you there after helping you out of the water?” I ask, astonished by the direction this has taken. I really wasn’t expecting this.

“I’m getting there,” he says, chuckling.

“My parents looked at each other in shock because Carly was my dad’s mother’s name, but she died when he was three in a car crash with my grandfather.

So while I’m not a ghost, I do believe they exist, and you’re the first person I’ve ever told.

I know it probably makes me sound crazy, but.

. .” JJ trails off, and if it were anyone else, I’d think they were lying, but I genuinely think he’s telling me the truth.

“Your eyes are a remarkable shade of blue. Stunning,” he says, abruptly changing topics, and my cheeks flush in response.

Doubt rears its ugly head, creeping into my mind.

“JJ, are you even real?”

I regret my question the moment he removes his pinky from mine to pinch himself. “Last time I checked.”

“Guys don’t say stuff like that! They don’t lie in perfect picture meadows with a girl they hardly know, and they really don’t tell the girl she’s making him fall in love with her,” I say, sitting up while feeling utterly ridiculous I’m letting a cute boy play me.

I’m smarter than this. I stand, walking away before I sink any further into this hole. I need to leave before I’m in too deep.

JJ’s hand catches mine, stopping me despite his grip being loose enough I could pull away if I wanted to.

“Marley, I promise I’m real. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be. For some unknown reason, I feel this connection with you, and I . . .” he trails off, doubt seeping into his confidence for the first time all day.

“You what?” My tone softens, and JJ drags his other hand through his hair.

“I like you. I can’t explain it, but there is something about you, drawing me to you.

Then I can’t help but wonder if maybe there’s a reason why.

Maps don’t just glitch, but yours did today at the same time I was sitting in that café,” he says, laughing under his breath before dropping my hand. “I’m sorry. This is all too weird.”

“Destiny,” I whisper, all the dots connecting in my brain.

“What?” JJ asks, but I don’t have an answer for him.

I don’t even have an answer for myself. I step closer, pulling his head down to meet mine.

The second our lips touch, lightning strikes and I know nothing has ever felt more right than this.

I can only assume JJ feels the same as he pulls me closer to him.

~

“Marley,” JJ says, pulling me from my thoughts as we pull into my building’s parking lot.

I turn to look at him, realizing as I replayed the moment I met JJ for the first time, I missed the entire rest of the drive and we’re now sitting in the parking lot for my apartment building.

“Are you okay?”

“I was just thinking,” I admit, wishing I could go back in time and tell JJ my full name. It’s hard not to wonder how different things might be if I had, but I can’t change it now. All we can do is move forward.

His head tilts as he wipes his palms on his thighs.

“About?” JJ asks, and I can feel the tension filling the air as his pools of green meet mine, reading my unspoken answer.

I was thinking about you. He clears his throat, turning off the car.

“Stay in your seat, and I’ll come around to get you.

I don’t want you to walk on your ankle.”

He slides out of the driver’s side before I can consider protesting, but I’m not sure I would. It’s nice being held by JJ.

My door opens as I undo my seatbelt, and JJ offers me a hand to help me out of the car. This feels like overkill for a sprained ankle, but selfishly, I want him to hold me again. I take his hand, and once again, it feels just as right as interlocking the last piece of a puzzle.

“I can . . .” I trail off when JJ fixes his heated stare on me, dropping it. Okay then. JJ bends, looping his hands underneath my knees to carry me once more bridal style as my heart flutters in my chest.

We’re halfway up the stairwell before I realize Bria has the keys to our apartment, but I’m also not a thousand percent sure the door is locked. “Do you have the keys?” JJ asks, pausing in front of my door.

“Um, not exactly, but there’s a chance the door is unlocked.”

A choking sound comes from JJ’s throat, startling me. “I’m sorry, I really hope I heard you wrong. You don’t know if you locked the door?”

“Kind of?”

JJ’s jaw tightens in the dim light, and he sets me down, his hands lingering on me until I’m balancing on one leg.

He reaches for the doorknob, testing it to see if we locked it, but the door clicks open.

“Marley,” he says, and I realize as young women living by ourselves, yeah, we probably should make sure our door is locked.

“It works in our favor, though, because we would have had to go all the way back to get the keys from Bria,” I point out, trying to find the bright side, but he does not appear to be impressed by my logic.

“Wait here,” he instructs, leveling me with a look that silences any argument I want to make.

I think I like this side of JJ where he tells me what to do.

I hold onto the siding to steady myself as JJ flips all the lights on and clears the apartment.

It’s sweet for him to do it, but totally unnecessary.

His massive frame fills the doorway again as JJ offers me his hands to limp my way into the apartment.

“You’re lucky there was no one here. You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked. ”

“I think you’re being a little dramatic,” I say, and JJ rolls his eyes.

“Except I’m not. You’re hurt, coming back to an apartment where you left the door unlocked, and what exactly was your plan if someone broke in?” he asks, shutting the door behind me, making a point to flip the lock.

“I didn’t need a plan because I have a six-foot-something tall guy with me who cleared the apartment of any bad guys who might’ve been waiting for me,” I joke, trying to lighten the mood.

His mouth twitches, but his frown remains. “Six four. You had a six-foot-four guy with you who will always clear the apartment before letting you walk in, especially when you leave your door unlocked. I’m asking what your plan would have been if I weren’t here.”

“Did you know it takes more effort to frown than to smile?” I ask, changing the subject, but JJ doesn’t stop frowning.

“I asked what your plan was,” he says, taking a step closer to me as I lean against the door.

My plan? The only plan I have presently is to make JJ happy.

I wet my lips, taking a note from his playbook to fight smiling as his emerald gaze flickers to my lips. His mouth parts, and the air between us crackles with electricity. “My plan?” I whisper, hyper aware of how easy it would be for me to reach out and pull JJ closer.

“Yes, sweetheart,” JJ says, the nickname rolling again off his tongue. He braces an arm over my head, and I suck in a sharp breath. I like it when he calls me sweetheart.

“To make you happy,” I admit, and from our close proximity, I hear his breathing hitch.

“What?” His smooth voice has a hoarseness to it, and I stop fighting the urge to touch him.

My fingers brush across his jaw, feeling the dusting of stubble growing before cupping his cheek. His dark lashes flutter shut, a whimper escaping his lips I can’t stop staring at. Is this what it’s like to be so completely and desperately wanted?

“Marley, ask me to kiss you, please .”

I already was going to, but the sheer desperation in his voice makes my pulse skyrocket.

“JJ, will you kis—”

For all his talk about waiting to kiss me until I ask, JJ doesn’t even let me finish the question, his mouth pressing against mine with a gentleness silencing me. My hand on his cheek slides into his dark waves, curling into the short, soft strands.

Time stands still, and my whole world has shifted on its axis.

I move my lips against his as my other hand reaches to pull JJ against me, and when he presses mine into the door, my entire body hums at the feeling of rightness. Despite how tender he might be with me, there’s nothing soft about JJ’s body, including his hard-on pressing into my stomach.

A soft moan sounds from the back of my throat, and he tilts his head, pressing his lips firmer against mine.

I gasp, arching into him as our kiss morphs into something untameable, his tongue sliding against mine as he devours me.

The tension between us has been explosive, and I’m blown away by how much more of him I want.

I’m not a person who makes reckless choices, but the magnetic pull I feel toward JJ doesn’t feel reckless or like a choice.

It feels like I’ve been spinning in circles, trying to fight it, but why?

Why fight something that feels so right when I was trying to force something that never even felt half as good as this?

JJ’s breaking years of practiced discipline and inhibited desires.

JJ is my absolute undoing.

His hand skims the bare skin on the back of my thigh, pouring gasoline on the fire already threatening to consume me. I hook my arms around the back of his neck, refusing to let him pull away regardless of how my lungs are protesting for air.

With an assuredness I wasn’t expecting, JJ’s hands lift me into the air, and I take advantage of the opportunity to wrap my legs around his waist. A groan rumbles from his chest, and I feel like a fucking fool for not asking him to kiss me sooner.

When my back is pressed against the door again, my body aches for more as our hips line up.

I want to know every part of him I’ve missed out on.

“ Fuck ,” JJ mumbles, pulling away as he pants, his breathing shallow.

I can feel him pressing against me, and I twist his short hair through my fingers as my heart races in my chest. “ Wow ,” I murmur, a little in disbelief at how easy it is to lose myself in him. Is it bad I want to kiss him again?

“Marley, I . . . fuck, sorry, I can’t think holding you like this,” he says, his cheeks flushing as a shy smile tugs at his lips, completely contradicting the caveman way he has me pressed against this door.

“You can put me down,” I say, combing my fingers through his soft strands.

“I don’t really want to do that either, but I think talking is a good idea,” JJ says, but he doesn’t move an inch.

“JJ?” I ask, choosing to make the first move by unwinding myself from around him, making sure my good ankle touches down first. He said he wants to talk, and I want to respect it. A breather is probably a good idea anyway.

It was no less special than our kisses in France, but just as we’ve both changed, the time apart seems to have only made the intensity between us grow from a slow flame to a raging wildfire.

He shuts his eyes, turning his head. “Need a minute, baby,” he says, his mouth pressing into a thin line as his throat bobs. JJ draws in a ragged breath, and I would give anything to know what he’s thinking.

When JJ’s eyes open, focusing on me, all the air in my lungs is stolen away by the visceral desire I recognize in his eyes. He pushes off the door, taking a step back, it seems like it takes all of his effort, especially when he drags a hand over his jaw.

“I don’t think we’re very good at starting over,” I say, trying to lighten the moment.

JJ tilts his head, a dimple appearing as his full lips curl into a breathtaking smile. “No, Marley, we’re not, but that’s okay because I don’t want to forget a single second with you.”