“Why didn’t you want to tell me?”
Jared leaned over and kissed me. It was urgent and deep, the way he kissed me before I left him to speak with my mother; as if he were kissing me goodbye forever.
He reluctantly pulled away to look at me. “It was for purely selfish reasons. I wanted to wait so you and I could…so you could get to know me better.”
“You lost me.”
“Remember when I was explaining the Taleh, you mentioned how convenient it was that Gabe protected Jack, and I protected you?”
I nodded. “Yes, you said that angel groups tend to stay in families or those that are connected somehow.” Now that he’d brought it to my attention, it made more sense. “Claire is Ryan’s protector because he’s a friend?”
Jared sighed and shifted nervously beside me. “Claire being Ryan’s protector means he is supposed to be in your life. Permanently.”
I smiled and shook my head. “So what are you saying? That Ryan’s going to be family somehow?” Jared waited and my eyes widened in disbelief. “You think I’m supposed to marry him? Oh, c’mon! That’s ridiculous!”
“That would be the only explanation,” Jared said, his expression grave.
“You’re not serious. There’s no way for you to know that. It could be any number of things.”
“I thought that if you didn’t get to know me first, then you’d want to be with him. He is supposed to be your husband one of these days. I would understand why, armed with that knowledge, you might feel differently. And he’s a good friend to you. And he’s…persistent,” Jared said, his face twisting into an annoyed expression.
I held his face in my hands and looked directly into his eyes. “Quit it. I’m in love with you, Jared. There is no me without you.”
He watched me for a moment. “I’m sorry I kept it from you.”
“You don’t have a single thing to worry about. I promise,” I said.
Jared switched off the lamp and crawled over to his side, pulling me to him.
“I missed you,” I said, settling into his arms. “It’s going to be hard to go back to the way it was when my hand heals. I could probably start staying at Andrews this weekend.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Jared whispered in the dim light.
I buried my head into his chest. I had never wanted anything more, but Ryan’s words about moving too fast came to the forefront of my mind.
“I would love that…someday,” I said, hoping to preserve his feelings.
“Someday,” he repeated, sighing. “I understand. It’s too fast.”
“Maybe just a little,” I smiled, kissing his chest.
The next morning, I woke up in Jared’s arms. He was awake, patiently holding me against him. My smile faded when I realized it would be our last morning together for awhile.
“What is it?” Jared asked, sensing my disappointment.
I sucked in a deep, disheartening breath. “It’s Friday,” I breathed. “I’m going back to Andrews tonight.”
“You have a key. You can use it whenever you’d like.”
“That’s right,” I said, looking up at him with a smile. “That’s comforting.”
Jared brushed my bangs from my face. “I’m going to miss seeing you like this in the morning…especially in my shirt. It would have had a whole new significance had I known that one day you would be lying in my arms with it on. An interesting choice, I might add. That’s my favorite one.”
“I heard,” I smiled.
“Take it with you. I want you to have it.”
“But it’s your favorite shirt!” I argued, pulling away to look at him.
“My mornings won’t be quite as disappointing from now on if I know you’re waking up in that shirt,” he countered.
“Good point. I’m taking it. But it’s only on loan.”
“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind that one of these days it will be a permanent fixture in my closet again. You can’t live in Andrews forever.”
I bit my lip and pressed my cheek against his bare chest. It seemed a little silly, lying here with him, knowing we both would rather I just stay. But I would never hear the end of it from my friends, and my mother would be an entirely different set of problems.
“I could stay here on the weekends,” I said.
“You will?” he asked, his eyes brightening.
“If that’s okay, I don’t want to impose.”
Jared kissed me until I could feel a tingling in my toes. Just as I needed to take a breath, he pulled away. “I would have everything you own here by the time you finished your classes today if you’d let me. You staying here on weekends is absolutely okay.”
A smile spanned the width of my face and I wrapped my arms around his neck. When he said things like that, it was hard for me to remember why I couldn’t just give in to what he wanted—to what I wanted. I immediately felt better knowing that I had a few more days with him.