“No, one thing is missing,” Jared said as he took her in his arms and kissed her.
She clung to him.
“Think you’ll miss me?” he asked, his face buried in her hair.
“Stop it or you’ll make me cry.”
He moved back to look at her face. “I could stand your tears if I knew they were for me.”
She put her head back down on his chest and the tears began to come. “You’ll go back to being the Great Jared Montgomery and forget all about me.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Haven’t you yet realized that there is no Jared Montgomery? He’s not real. The real me is here in this house, on this island.” He started to say, With you. But it was too soon for that.
Alix put her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. “Your beautiful lower lip,” she whispered.
“Is that the only part of my body you like?” He was kissing her cheeks, her temples. Soft, sweet kisses.
“I like your mind. You’re fairly intelligent. For a man, that is.”
Jared laughed. “I’ll show you how smart I am!” He swept the suitcase onto the floor.
“Please do,” she said. “I like anything you can show me or tell me or ask—” She broke off because he kissed her into silence.
Chapter Nineteen
The day Jared left, they drove to the airport in silence. Alix seemed to be full of thoughts and worries—and maybe even a dread of the future. No matter what Jared said about this separation not changing anything between them, she was still concerned.
“Will you put on a suit?” she asked as he stopped at the token machine at the airport parking lot.
“Yes. I don’t want to but it’s New York.”
“Will you shave and get your hair cut?”
“No,” he said, smiling. “Unless you want me to, that is.”
“No, I don’t. Will Tim yell at you for being away so long?”
“All he cares about is that the California house plans are finished.” Jared pulled into a parking place, turned off the engine, and looked at her. “What’s really bothering you?”
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just that we’ve known each other such a short time and you’re—” His look made her say what she didn’t want to. “You’ll be him again.”
“And ‘he’ is a bad guy? An exploiter of women? Love ’em and leave ’em?”
“I didn’t mean that,” she said, then grimaced. “Maybe I did.”
“If I did that to you, your parents would kill me.”
“Great,” she said. “Glad to hear that it’s fear that keeps you with me.”
Jared just shook his head. “Words aren’t going to prove anything. Call me, I’ll call you. Text, email. All of it. I’ll let you know where I am at all times. Will that make you feel better?”
“Only when you return will I be sure. Return to me, not just to your old house and your beloved island.”
Jared laughed. “I think you know me too well. Come on, let’s go.”
In the airport he was about to go out the door to the small jet, but he turned back, took Alix in his arms, and kissed her yet again. He put his lips near her ear and whispered, “Within four hours everyone on this island will have heard that we’re a couple.”
There was another kiss goodbye, then Alix watched him walk across the tarmac and go up the ramp to the plane. His seat was by a window on her side and he waved to her as they took off.