Billionaire Unmasked(71)

“I don’t think the wedding is important. It’s the marriage you have after the wedding that matters,” she told him thoughtfully. Honestly, she didn’t care how it happened, as long as it was legal. She belonged to Jason, and it was how they went on from here that mattered. “The thing is, I’ve always felt the same way about you. I have since I saw you at my graduation. That was why I was still a virgin when I was attacked. Nobody ever measured up to you.”

“I should have told you a long time ago how I felt, how much I wanted you,” Jason rasped, sounding disgusted with himself.

“We can’t change the past, Jason. Can we just go on from here?” Hope didn’t want to think about the past now that they were together. They couldn’t change things, go back and redo anything. But they could have the happiest life imaginable together. “I love you.” She let out a happy sigh. “And I’ve always been waiting for you.”

“I waited for you, too, Peaches.” He dropped a sweet kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry that I lied. Are you going to let me out of the doghouse?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.” She tried to make her voice sound beleaguered. “I love you now. And you’ve ruined me. I’m addicted to you.”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been ruined since you turned eighteen. I love you. Forgive me. Please,” he begged gravely. “It will kill me if you don’t.”

“Okay,” she said dreamily, agreeably. A remorseful Jason was hard to resist, and he’d groveled long enough. Hope just wanted to get on with loving him, and having him loving her back. “I’m so easy.”

“You’re anything but easy. It’s taken me years to make you mine,” Jason said dubiously. “And now you’re going to scare the shit out of me every day with your career. I have to admit I have a love/hate relationship with your fearlessness.”

“I’m not fearless,” she whispered huskily. “And I’m not going to chase storms anymore.” She’d made her decision after she’d talked to Tate. “When I first started doing it, I was excited. I loved the adrenaline rush, and I wanted to make a name for myself. After I was…kidnapped, I had to go back to prove something to myself. You were right when you said I didn’t need to prove anything to a dead man anymore. I actually don’t think the last few years have been about conquering my fears. I’d already done that. I think I was disconnected and lonely, and I didn’t know anything else. Lying to my family had separated me from my brothers, and I kept everyone else at a distance because I was used to it. I don’t want to do that anymore,” she finished breathlessly.

“Thank Christ,” Jason blurted out emphatically. “I don’t want you to quit if you really love it, but if you don’t want to do it anymore, I’d be fucking ecstatic.”

Hope laughed. “Then be ecstatic because I think I’d like to take some underwater pictures, and I really love doing my landscape and wilderness shots. I still love storms, but I think I was chasing them for the wrong reasons. I was lonely, and I didn’t know how to be any other way.”

“Not anymore, sweetheart. You have me, and you can let yourself be close to your brothers again now that you don’t have to cover anything up.”

“I’d like that,” she answered happily. “Do you think I should tell them everything?”

“Your call, baby. I’ll stand behind whatever you want to do. But I don’t think you need to do it because of them. I think you only need to do that if you want it.”

“Maybe someday I will tell them. Right now, I’d just like to spend some time being happy with my husband, and see what it feels like to not be lonely anymore.”

Jason fiddled with a lock of her hair. “Me, too. I’ve been restless and moody for a long time because I missed you.”

“Filling your time working for charities?” she asked curiously.

“Actually, yeah. I have my own work to do, but I think I’ve found more satisfaction from starting this organization for battered women than anything else I’ve ever done.” He hesitated for a moment. “Tate must have told you.”

“He did. I think you’re amazing, Jason Sutherland. Can I donate? I have a very rich husband now, so I don’t need to worry about money,” she teased him mercilessly.

“Keep your money safe,” he advised. “I’ve donated enough for both of us. Put it in safe investments and leave it for our children.”

Hope’s heart accelerated. “Are we having kids?”