The Billion Dollar Bachelor(47)

A tear slowly ran down the side of her cheek. “Yes. And that’s kind of what I figured out. Love isn’t about confining someone. It’s about setting them free.” She took a step toward him. “Which means I’m free to make a choice, Jax. A real choice. For myself. And … I choose you.”

*

He looked hard and intimidating and unapproachable, his blue eyes cold. And her heart felt like shriveling up like a plant in the hot desert sun. Had she made the wrong choice? The wrong choice to leave him, the wrong choice to come back?

But it was too late to go back now. This was her decision and she had to stand by it.

“Me, Pandora?” There was no softening in his face, tension in every line of his posture. “Are you sure? You know what I want. That’s you. Forever. And once I have you, I’ll never let you go. Understand?”

Her throat felt thick, the pressure of all the emotion inside her pressing hard against it. She walked over to the desk and went around it to where he stood, easing herself in front of him. Then she reached up and touched his firm mouth, following the line of it with her fingertips. “But I don’t want you to let me go, Jax. Because being with you, loving you, is freedom.”

A shudder went through his powerful body. “Ah … baby … don’t do that.”

“Too late,” she murmured. “I love you, Jax Morrow. And I’ve made my choice.”

The look on his face changed, becoming fierce, intent. The tiger leaping for its prey.

Her breath caught. Then his arms were around her, pulling her close, holding her tight. He was so hot, his body hard and strong around hers. “Good,” he whispered, kissing her jaw, her neck. “Because I love you, too, Snow White.”

“Well, what do you know?” she murmured, just before his mouth claimed hers. “Turns out you’re Prince Charming after all.”