Listen to Me (Fusion 1)

“Seduction isn’t your whole life, Addie. It’s an important part of it, yes, but you’re still a woman. A friend. A human being. Days off are not against the law.”

I simply shrug and watch the water fall before me. The mist coming off of it feels so great on my skin. It smells clean, and I can smell the trees nearby as well.

“I usually go to the gym when I need to empty my head.” But this is so much better.

“Close your eyes.”

I glance up at him, then oblige him, standing in his arms, my eyes closed.

“Now just listen,” he says in my ear. “Listen to the music of the water, Addie. The birds, the wind in the trees, the beating of your heart. Even your own breath. Listen to it.”

It’s hypnotic. I bite my lip and simply listen to it all, and suddenly, it’s as though a blanket of calm is wrapped around me. My mind stills, my shoulders drop. I can even feel the muscles in my face relax.

Jake’s arms tighten around me, and this is when I know, without a doubt, that I’ve fallen in love with this man. It’s not necessarily where we are that has soothed me.

It’s him.

He knows what I need to make me feel better. He listens without judgment.

For the first time in my life, a man wants to take care of me.

Because he cares for me.

And this is new.

“You just melted into me,” he murmurs, “like a huge weight was lifted.”

Because it was.

I turn in his arms, my back to the water, and tuck my arms against my body as he holds me tight. I’m cocooned in him, soaking him up.

I almost feel guilty for how good he makes me feel.

“Better?”

“Mm.” I nod, then lean back so I can look up into his green eyes. “Thank you for this.”

“Well, it is my special place,” he teases, but then sobers and kisses my forehead. “And you’re welcome, baby. Your gorgeous eyes don’t look so sad anymore.”

“You have an amazing way of making me feel better.” I bite my lip again, unable to look him in the face. I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with telling men how I feel. But he tips my chin up and kisses my lips softly.

“I’m glad.” He smiles. “Are you hungry yet?”

At the thought of food, I feel my stomach growl. “I think I’m starving.”

“Good. So am I. We can go down to the lodge.”

“Can we stay here for just a little longer? Just like this?”

He tucks me under his chin, and simply rocks me slowly back and forth, his nose buried in my hair, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so safe in my life.

Tell him you love him!

But I don’t. It’s too new. It’s too scary. Instead, I relish in his hands gliding up and down my back, the sound of the water and the wind, and the smell of my man, as he rocks me in his arms.

“I WANT A bacon cheeseburger, well done, with fries and a side of ranch,” I tell the pretty waitress at the lodge near the falls. “Oh, and a chocolate milk shake.”

“I want the same,” Jake says with a grin, then just stares at me for a long minute.

“What?”

“I love the way you eat.”

“Trust me, my hips won’t love this, but I’m starving and that’s what I want.” I shrug and sip my water. “I’ll go to the gym an extra day this week.”

“Your hips are awesome,” he says, eyeing the hips in question. “They’re perfect for holding on to while I’m behind you.”

Well, that makes me squirm in my chair.

“I’m glad you approve.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect, Addie. If you want to go to the gym to make yourself feel good, then by all means do it, but please don’t think that you need to change anything about you.”

“Oh,” I say as I wave him off and shake my head. “Trust me, that ship has sailed. If that were my intention, it would have happened when certain photographers called me a cow back in the day.”

His jaw ticks with agitation, and I can’t help but love him for being offended on my behalf.

“I just go now to stay in the shape I am now. I’m perfectly okay with my size, Jake.”

Our food is served and I clap my hands gleefully.

“Plus, I love food way too much to ever be a size zero.”

“I love food too.” He takes a big bite of his burger and sighs. “So good. Tell me more about it.”

“About the food?”

“No, smart-ass, the modeling. How did you get into it?”

I pop a french fry in my mouth, thinking back. “I was a freshman in college at Oregon State. Riley was my roommate; that’s how I met her.”

“I didn’t know that,” Jake says with a grin. “How did you meet Kat?”

“Kat was Cami’s roommate, and coincidentally, Kat and Riley were good friends already, so we all just became a fivesome. Anyway, my parents paid for school, but not for the extras, and I was prepared to get a part-time job so I had some fun money, but I saw an ad for a talent agency that was coming through Portland.”

“And you went.”

I shrug, munching my fries. “I’d thought about it off and on through high school. I knew that I had the height, but not the waiflike figure. Cami talked me into just going to the audition, so I did. And I didn’t get hired.”

“Idiots.”

“They take test photos of you at the audition, and somewhere down the line a photographer saw my test photo and said I was perfect for an ad he was doing. This was about six months later, during the summer, and I got a call. And that’s where it started.”