Emotions he couldn’t even describe passed between them as they sat and stared into each other’s eyes.
After a few moments, Krista grinned. “But if you really feel like you need to take me to the Eiffel Tower, I guess we could go there on our honeymoon.”
He laughed as he pulled her hands from his face and cupped them in his. Bringing them to his mouth, he breathed out a hot puff of air, and as he did, he watched her eyes become heavy with need.
“I love you,” Krista whispered against the back of his hand.
“I love you, too,” Chase said as he pressed his mouth in a firm kiss against her wrist. And he planned on showing her just how much, tonight, tomorrow, and every day, for the rest of their lives. Every single day.
Excerpt: Actually Love – Jessie & Zach
Unedited Excerpt
Anxiety was building inside of Jessie like a snowball picking up momentum in an avalanche. Where was the owner of this place? She’d seen the elderly woman when she’d first arrived talking to the frat boys who wanted to put in their applications? Now she couldn’t find her anywhere.
She wasn’t upstairs. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the front room. And she wasn’t in the basement Jessie was currently walking through.
Jessie was at a total loss, she had no idea where to look next. It was as if the entire house was deserted sans the three girls Jessie had left upstairs who were all making plans of what they would do when they rented this place. Which was not going to be how this played out…if Jessie could just find the owner.
A glance at her watch made the panic rise inside of her like a tsunami wave. The open house had officially ended as of two minutes ago. This was not at all how Jessie normally operated. She never left things until the last minute. Mainly because she hated feeling like she did right now.
Time was up. She needed to lock this place down. Jessie still had not put in her application. She hadn’t even spoken to the owner. And she couldn’t seem to locate the owner to remedy either of those situations. This was not good. Not good at all.
Her feet began moving faster beneath her as her growing dread propelled them at a rapid pace. Wrapping her fingers around the wood-planked railing that led up the staircase she felt a sharp prick in her skin at the same time light blinded her, pouring in as the basement door flew open. Sucking in a sharp breath as pain shot through her middle finger, she released her grasp of the railing, pulling her hand back.
“Shit,” she hissed as she looked down to see the a significantly large splinter that had buried itself under the surface of her skin with only the tiny tip protruding out.
“Are you okay?” a baritone voice boomed, sending a thrill spreading through Jessie’s body like the first drink of ice cold water on a hot summer day.
Jessie lifted her eyes to see a large shadowed figure coming down the steps towards her. All she could see was the outline of his strong shoulders and arms, his impressive height as rays of sunlight shone all around him. He moved with a graceful confidence. Somehow, just from the sound of his voice, the outline of his frame, and his purposeful movements, Jessie felt herself go weak in the knees.
Stop it. She quickly reprimanded herself. She was so not a weak-in-the-knees-girl.
Swallowing hard over a knot that had taken up residence in her throat over the last few seconds she said, “I’m fine.” The second the weak words left her mouth she wanted to turn back the clock and suck them back in. Erase them from existence. Instead of sounding like the self-assured woman that she was, her voice sounded as shaky as a love sick school girl.
What the hell was going on with her?!
Deciding to ignore both the man and her reaction to him she peered down, focusing all of her attention on her finger that was stinging in pain. It was already swelling and the skin surrounding it had begun to turn shades of white and red. She tried to grasp the tiny edge of the wooden plank that had embedded itself in the pad of her finger with her nails but she couldn’t quite get a good hold on it.
Jessie sensed the moment that sexy-shadow-man stopped in front of her and goosebumps rose on her flesh at his nearness.
Seriously?!
What did he have some super-power? Was he like sexy kryptonite or something? How could she be having such a visceral reaction to someone that she hadn’t even seen yet?
Holy crap!
She hadn’t even really seen him. She had no idea what his face looked like. The color of his hair. His eyes. The shape of his mouth. It’s not like she’d be able to pick him out of a line-up.
Her body clenched as she felt his head lower as if he was studying her wound. Mmmm. Maybe her body would be able to pick him out of a line-up after all.