When the grooms kissed to seal their union, my eyes filled, and my heart thumped with joy. When they embraced each other and I saw the tears on Nolan’s face, I gave up trying to stem the tide, and let mine fall too.
Love was real, and it was worth celebrating.
I only had a few minutes between the ceremony and the elaborate photo shoot Nolan had planned, and I had to use most of it to repair my eye makeup, but I was dying to get to Quinn. After I touched up my face in the bathroom, I hurried back into the reception room, where guests were mingling with drinks in their hands, talking and listening to live jazz. My eyes skimmed the crowd, but I didn’t see him right away.
A hand touched my shoulder. “Jaime.”
I turned, and at the nearness of him, my breath caught. Without thinking, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “Oh my God! What are you doing here?”
“I rearranged a few things. I actually have to fly back to London tomorrow night.”
Surprised, I stepped back. “You do? When did you fly in?”
“Today.”
“You flew in for one night?”
“I wanted to be here.”
I smiled. “Alex will be so happy.”
“It wasn’t all for Alex,” he said quietly. “I wanted to see you too. You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re wearing the necklace.”
“Of course I am.” As I touched the circle pendant, I heard my name being called and looked over to see the coordinator gesturing for me to come with her. “Crap. I have to go take pictures. But I want to talk to you.”
“It’s OK. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. I’m not either.” Impulsively, I took his face in my hands and kissed him full on the lips. “I mean it, Quinn. I’m here, I’m yours, I love you, and I want this for us.”
“You do?” Grinning, he looked around. “All this?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Maybe not the two hundred people.” Deep breath. “But lately I’ve been really inspired by Alex and Nolan, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said about falling in love, and staying in it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You were right—I didn't let myself believe in love, because I was scared to give someone else that kind of power over me, and I’ve never been very good at sharing myself with anyone. It seemed so much easier to dismiss it as fiction.”
“It is easier.”
“But I don’t want to do that anymore. I need you in my life.” I heard my name being called again. “Gah. Too much going on at once.”
“It’s OK.” He kissed my forehead. “I understand.”
“I have to go outside. Wait for me here?”
“As long as it takes.”
I smiled at him before hurrying toward the exit, my heart pounding as quickly as my heels on the wood.
Thirty
QUINN
While Jaime was gone, I had a drink and chatted with a couple high school friends, but my mind was completely focused on her. She looked and sounded so different. I mean, she looked beautiful, like she always did, but her expression when she told me she loved me was so guileless and natural. I heard nothing false in her voice, saw no lie in her eyes. Prior to tonight, the only other times I’d seen her look that open and honest was during sex.
It was such a fucking relief.
While in London, I’d second-guessed myself a thousand times for walking away from her at Alex’s party. You asshole, you love her! Why do you have to be so hard on her? I felt like I owed her an apology for that. But in the end, I always came to the same conclusion—if she was going to remain closed off to the possibility of a future, if she was truly only in this for the fun of it, if she was the kind of person who would leave whenever she felt threatened by her feelings or mine…I couldn’t be with her.
But I’d missed her. And every night, I hoped what I’d said was getting through to her, and she just needed time.
When she’d texted me that she wanted to talk, I couldn’t wait to get home and find out.
Thankfully, the photographer I was shooting with in London felt bad enough about the scheduling mix-up that she agreed to finish up on Monday instead of today, which was how I’d been able to take the quick trip. It would be terrible having to leave again tomorrow, but at least this time, I’d know I was coming home to something good.
Something beautiful, I thought as Jaime entered the room and walked toward me. Something that matters to me.
“Hey,” she said as I kissed her cheek.
“Hey. Have I told you how fucking spectacular you look in that dress?”
She laughed. “Maybe. But you can keep telling me.”
I slipped an arm around her waist and spoke in her ear. “You look fucking spectacular in that dress, but I think it will look even more spectacular on my new bedroom floor. Let’s go find out.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that but I think my brother would kill me if I left before the big toast.”
“That’s right.” I let go of her and studied her face. “Are you nervous?”
She tilted a hand side to side, fingers stretched. “A bit. I mean, I know what I want to say. I just hope I get through it.”
“You will. I have faith.” People had begun sitting down for dinner, but there were some things I wanted to say to her before I went to my table. “Listen, I want to apologize for the way I treated you at Alex’s that night. I was hard on you.”