“It’s been a good night,” I replied, experiencing such an intense urge to kiss him I couldn’t ignore it. So I didn’t. Lifting up onto my tiptoes, I pressed my mouth to his until I felt it: the instant my whole body melted into him and I could no longer tell what part was Jesse and what part was me. I wasn’t losing myself to him; I was finding myself in him. “And now it’s a great night.”
“Mm-hmm,” Jesse hummed, smiling with his eyes still closed.
The bouncer shifted behind Jesse, reminding me of where we were, or rather, what side of the curtains we were on. “What are you doing out here?” I asked Jesse.
Jesse rubbed the back of his neck and looked to be searching for the right words. “Um . . . I wasn’t exactly on the V.I.P. list.”
“What?!” I made a face as I let out a mini shriek. “You’re the only person I actually want to see, and they didn’t put you on the V.I.P. list? Are you kidding me?”
Jesse still looked like he was trying to choose his words carefully. “No?”
The anger I felt had nothing to do with him and everything to do with whoever’s fault it was that Jesse’s name hadn’t been put on that list. “Why didn’t you tell someone?”
Jesse indicated at the monster-sized bouncer. “I tried telling Kong, but I don’t think he speaks. He just throws down the pain.”
I sent a glare “Kong’s” way, grabbed Jesse’s arm, and marched through the curtains. When Kong stepped forward, I gave him a do-it-I-dare-you look. The only thing he did was step back and look away.
“God, Jesse, I’m so sorry. How long have you been waiting out there?”
He lifted a shoulder as he scanned the pictures. “Not long.”
“Can not long be quantified?”
His gaze locked on one picture before guiding us toward it. I’d seen a lot of that picture already. “I don’t know. An hour? Maybe two? It wasn’t that long.”
“An hour? Or two?” I was back to a mini shriek. “Why didn’t you just bust through and come find me?”
Jesse stopped in front of the painting with a thoughtful expression. “I didn’t want to make a scene. Tonight’s all about you. Plus you’ve got a little too much faith in me if you think I could have gotten past Godzilla with tree stumps for arms.”
I laughed and squeezed his hand. No one could shift my moods like Jesse. Anger one second, laughter the next.
He took a few steps closer, leaning in until it looked like he was studying each individual brush stroke. After a few minutes, he stepped back a few feet and took in the painting as a whole. His forehead was lined, his eyes curious, and his mouth flat, giving away nothing.
Dozens of people had inspected the same picture, and not once had my heart pounded the way it was then. Transparency was tough with anybody, but if a stranger saw into the depths of me and didn’t like what they saw, brushing it off was easier. When someone I cared about, someone I cared about more than myself, saw into those same depths, their conclusion was everything.
Jesse knew the good, bad, and the ugly of me. He had for a while, and he’d never once turned his back and walked away. That felt different though. Those had been words, stories I’d told him, flashes in time I’d given him a front row seat to. He’d never seen the good, bad, and the ugly on canvas in paint form. I couldn’t exactly tell you how it was different, but it was.
Right when the anxiety felt like it was about to rip me in half, Jesse’s mouth lifted in a familiar way and his hand dropped from mine only to wind around my middle. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, sweeping a kiss into my temple.
I choked on a laugh as a tear escaped my eye. “Which one?” I studied the picture with him.
His mouth moved from my temple to my ear. “Both of you.”
Just like that, the anxiety was gone, chased away by the all-encompassing acceptance Jesse showed me. He’d accepted me as I’d been last summer, he accepted me for the woman I was today, and I knew he’d accept the woman I was in the future. His acceptance didn’t come with an expiration date.
A figure slid in front of us. “Ah. You got in. Good for you.” Jax lifted his champagne glass at Jesse before taking a sip.
“Wait. You knew he was waiting out there?” I managed to hold back the flood of emotion until I received his response.
When Jax just lifted his eyebrows at me, I stopped holding the flood back. “And you didn’t invite him in or, I don’t know, tell me?” I crossed my arms and stepped toward Jax. I don’t know what I was thinking, it wasn’t like five foot not-a-whole-hell-of-a-lot in two-inch heels was intimidating, but I wanted to be in a position to intimidate. Jax Jones knew how much I wanted Jesse to be a part of the show, and apparently Jax Jones had also known Jesse was waiting just outside those curtains.
“It wouldn’t have been right of me to invite him in, and you’ve been busy all night.” Jax did that shrug of his that had never really bothered me before. If he did it again, I was going to go nuclear. Leaving my goddamned guest of honor outside for a couple of hours warranted a hell of a lot more than a shrug.
“Busy? Busy!?” I said, because once just wasn’t enough. “Let me show you something. Pretty basic stuff here.” Marching right up to Jax, I tapped his shoulder, lifted my eyebrows, and motioned toward the entrance. “‘Hey, Rowen. Your boyfriend, you know, that guy you’ve been waiting for all night, is just outside. Why don’t you go invite him in?’” My voice wasn’t trembling—yet—but it was close. Jesse came up behind me and dropped his hands on my shoulders. It wasn’t a calm down gesture. It was an I’ve got your back assurance.