They didn’t have time for much more than a quick bite and a chat.
“Your mom told me that something happened in college, and that is why you have trust issues. I just want you to know, I’m not that girl. I don’t know what you went through. She didn’t go into the particulars, and you don’t need to tell me, but Joseph, what you see is what you get with me. I’m a woman of integrity. That is how my parents raised me, and my brothers,” she added pointedly.
“I’m sorry. I get that now. I feel like a fool. Tara put me through the wringer. Drugs, cheating. I was young then, but I guess it helped to foster in me this suspicious nature. That coupled with what happened to Jonathan a few months back, and I guess I just let the possibility of this, what we have, seem doomed to failure.”
He saw the fleeting look of pain that crossed her face. She set down her glass of water, and whispered softly. “I really hope those worries disappear. It’s setting us up for failure. Joseph, I care for you a lot, but I can’t deal with walking on eggshells, and you thinking every word or action on my part, or my brothers, is going to be ripped apart, analyzed, and then put back together in some nefarious scenario in your head.”
She was right. That was what he had been doing. Bad habits were hard to break. “I’m sorry. I know that’s what I have been doing. But, I care for you too, and despite my actions and words, I don’t want this to end. I want this, what is between us to last.”
She sighed heavily twisting and scrunching up the napkin on the table. “I do too.”
He reached for her hand across the table, and clasped it. “I’ll try to do better. To trust.”
Turning her own hand over, she gave it a little squeeze. “I do need to get to work, but maybe tonight we can talk some more,” she suggested tentatively.
“I’d like that.”
“When I’m done my shift, I’ll text you,” and then from under lowered lashes. “I can meet you in your suite upstairs.”
“I’d really like that,” he put in, a hopeful smile spreading across his face. The thought of being alone with her, reconnecting with her, had his blood pumping, and his heart beating faster. He couldn’t wait to spend time with her out of the public eye. Sex was easy, but tonight it was going to be more than just sex. He was going to show her just how much he cared.
*
At ten o’clock, Joseph was in his suite waiting for a Jewel. He had put on fresh sheets on the bed. He had gone out and purchased several dozen candles, and the room glittered with their flickering light. He wanted tonight to be special, a memory of their fresh start she would cherish forever. He hoped it was. He glanced at the velvet box on his dresser. On a whim, he had gone down to the jewelers and purchased a necklace and charm. The moment he saw the small circle pendant with the three floating diamonds, he knew it would be perfect. It was a token of his love for her, which he planned to tell her of that night, but the charm, the three diamonds, also symbolized her devotion to her brothers, and her faith in them. Her love for them would be respected. He would trust in her word, and that meant them, too.
He hit the stereo and the soulful voice of John Legend played in the background. Then he heard the soft tap on the door.
Crossing the room, he opened it, and her eyes immediately filled with tears as she took in the room, and what he had done. “Oh, Joseph, it looks beautiful.”
He gathered her in his arms. “You are beautiful,” he murmured into her shiny dark hair. And she was. She must have brought a change of clothes to work, because she wore a sleek emerald dress. Her hair lay in long layers, and she had done her make up. She looked gorgeous. “I want this to be special tonight.”
“It’s always special when I’m with you.” She gazed into his coppery brown eyes that flickered in the candlelight. What she saw in those depths was love and pain. “Joseph, I love you. I want you to know that.”
Hearing her say the words he planned to tell her in just a few moments sealed the deal for him. She was giving him another chance, trusting him, and he wasn’t going to screw it up. “I love you, too. I really do, Baby. The moment I met you, when I thought you were stealing food from the pantry,” her brow furrowed and he laughed to erase her worry, “I knew even then that there was something incredibly special about you. You are an amazing woman, and one I want to spend my life with.”
Her gasp caught her by surprise.
“Just be patient with me. I promise you that I’ll work on my trust issues. And keep loving me, because I’m never going to stop loving you.”
Jewel took this gorgeous man’s face in her hands, and she met him half way as he tilted his head to get access to her mouth. He kissed her with all the love and passion he had in him.
When the kiss ended Jewel was breathless, but he wasn’t done yet. He took her small hand in his and led her to the dresser, and picked up the large velvet box.