He gave her a wink that promised they could discuss her ass later, then he turned his expression serious and her heart caught in her chest. “And, most importantly, Rule #1.” He gazed deeply into her eyes. “Always, always, always…tell her how much you love her, now and forever, before it’s too late.”
Loved? Did he just tell her he loved her? Emotions rushed through her—joy, fear, relief, fear, happiness, did she mention fear—that she became lightheaded. She’d wanted so badly for him to love her. Half of her rejoiced, but the other half shrieked in terror like a B-movie vampire as the sun crept over the horizon.
It was in that moment Vanessa realized she hadn’t made the rules to ensure she found the right man to love her. She’d made them to prevent accepting anyone who did. Because if she didn’t allow herself to love someone in return, then he’d never have the power to hurt her. Her rules had been nothing more than a coat of armor protecting her from her past instead of a plan to protect her future like she’d thought.
She covered her mouth and nose with her hands, tears streaming on either side, unable to verbalize the overwhelming emotions coursing through her. He’d taken her coping mechanism and turned it into something positive and beautiful, each one of his rules directly correlating in some way to the ones she’d lived by for more than a decade. But whereas hers had held everyone at arms’ length, Jackson’s were vows of love, promises to her of how he wanted to treat her with respect and honor.
He could’ve written a hundred different speeches. Some may have worked, most probably not. But nothing would have made an impact on her like those seven rules did. And he knew that, because in the span of only a few days, Jackson knew her better than she knew herself. She loved that about him. She loved him period.
“V, please don’t cry.” He shoved the paper in his pocket and pulled her hands away from her face, placing a kiss in both of her palms before holding them over his heart. “God, baby, I am so sorry. I swear I’ll never lie to you again for as long as I live. Just please give me another chance. I love you so goddamn much—”
“I love you, too.”
“—and I— What did you say?”
She couldn’t resist. He’d taken her from depressed and cynical to ecstatic and giddy in point-oh-six seconds. Biting the inside of her cheek, she tried to keep the smile from her face. “If you weren’t listening, I’m not going to repeat myself. You might want to make ‘Always listen the first time’ Rule #8.”
His lashes almost fused together and she heard the familiar rumbling of a growl deep in his chest that set off a chain reaction of heat and wetness throughout her body. Stepping into her until she was forced to tilt her head back to meet his eyes, he gave her a command as she’d known he would.
“Tell me again, while I’m not in mid-sentence, so I can hear you properly.”
Game, set, match went to Jackson. In a matter of forty-eight hours, she’d managed to forget just how much he affected her like this. She swallowed and wet her lips, desperately trying to regain some semblance of moisture, but apparently every last available drop had pooled between her legs to soak her expensive new lingerie.
“I love you, Jackson,” she said as she slid her hands up his chest and clasped them behind his neck. “I love you so much I don’t know what to do with myself.”
A radiant smile spread across his face, showing the lines of his dimples and accentuating the wicked gleam in his eye. “Don’t you worry about that, Princess,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and hauling her up his body, “I promise I know exactly what to do with a pupule wahine like you.”
Then, as their audience cheered—and Reid thanked God it was over—Jax gave her a little taste of his promise yet to come.
Epilogue
Six months later
Vanessa sat at the vanity in her bedroom, putting the finishing touches on her makeup and rifling through her earrings to find a pair to wear with her ever-present sea star necklace, and wondering what the hell was taking Jackson so long. He’d said he had to run an errand after training and then was stopping to pick up Reid and Lucie on his way home.
They still hadn’t figured things out logistically, with her job being in Nevada and his training being in Hawaii, but they’d been doing pretty well with switching off between states. When he wasn’t preparing for a fight, he stayed out by her. When he had to go back for a camp, or if he was just plain homesick for the sun and the waves, she visited him as often as possible when she wasn’t in court or if she could get away with catching up on paperwork and doing things remotely.
So far it seemed to be working well for them. They’d both discussed that neither were in a place to give up their current positions in their careers, but that once they were, they’d decide on the next course of action. But whatever they did, they would do it together.