Chapter Twenty-three
I knock on Tara’s door. I hear Jango’s nose pressed up against the bottom edge, and I picture her entire furry body shaking with joy that I’ve stopped here to see them.
My belly tightens. I’ve been thinking about this moment, wondering what words I should or can say that will let us move forward, help us to get past the events that divide us, and I don’t know what those words are. I don’t know what exactly to say because I’m still angry and hurt and a little pissed off. But I know that none of that matters because I love Tara and she loves me.
“Jake?”
The door opens. Jango is out the door and her paws are on my legs and she hops a little on her two hind feet she’s so excited to see me.
I pat Jango and stroke her soft fur. I look back at Tara. “Can we talk?”
Tara nods, surprise on her face, and I don’t blame her. In the past month I’ve given her no indication that I’d ever speak to her again. I’ve done a pretty good job with my avoidance system and managed not to see her nearly the entire time, with one slip up in the parking garage because I stopped and got groceries.
I walk into her place that I’ve been in a million times. This time feels a different, as though something is ending and maybe, I hope, beginning too.
“Can I get you anything?” she asks.
I shake my head and she moves to the couch.
“Sit,” she says, and reaches out toward the blue chair in the living room.
“I…I need to talk to you,” I say. “I need to put some of these things behind me.”
The color leaves Tara’s face as though she’s completely aware that this moment, this conversation with me is most likely our last conversation.
“Jake, I….I have so much I want to say to you, need to say to you, but even when I say all these things you’ll still—”
“Please let me say what I need to say.”
She surrenders to the couch and Jango lies down at her feet.
“Tara, I love you.”
Tara presses her hand to her mouth.
“I will love you for the rest of my life. I know that, and that’s part of why I was so upset. Because I felt as though you traded on that love, but I traded on it too. I believe you when you say that you wouldn’t do this again and I know that we both have baggage to unpack and put away in this relationship. But I know I want to do this work with you.”
Absolute shock, I see it in her eyes.
“You…you…want us to be together?”
“I … this has been hard on me. I…I am still trying to work through my anger at you going through my phone. Actually lifting the numbers so that you could get a story.”
She nods and her face looks grim.
“But where love is concerned, I need to be brave, and I want to be brave with you.” I walk to her and I pull her to standing. She is right in front of me and the scent of fresh soap and hints of lavender come with her.
“I love you. You love me. We aren’t perfect people, but we only get so many trips around the sun and I don’t want to spend any more of them without you by my side,” I say.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”
She looks up at me and I know in this moment that this is the woman for me, that there will never be a Wonderfuck again, that there will only be me, Jake, and her Tara, and together we will get through the bad and cherish the good and be a couple that weathers it all.
I know this because I trust that this love I feel pulsing through what was once a heart deadened by pain, has come back to feel and love a woman that I’m ready to build a lifetime of memories with.
A smile slips to her face and she weaves her hand through my hair and kisses me. I know that there is nothing more in this world that I will ever want or need. I only want to be her Mister Wonderful.
The End
Thank you for reading Mister WonderFULL. If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to leave a review on Goodreads or your favorite online retailer. Reviews help readers discover new authors, and I am grateful for all reviews.
Did you read Wonderf*ck, where Jake & Tara’s romance begins? If not, a copy today.
I am the Wonderfuck. I’ve got a rocket in my pocket and I live to take you for a ride. I’ve got everything a woman wants, all in one tight, well-muscled, long, hard package. My one goal is to make you come so hard and so often that you finally understand your innate power and how absolutely fucking beautiful you are. Because every woman is beautiful.
Did you catch that? Did you hear it? Did you read it with the soul-searing earnestness with which it was written? Don’t shake your head or nod and skip right on past those so fucking important words.
Every. Woman. Is. Beautiful.
I know all of you sexy women don’t believe it, even if I tell you it’s true. No, you only believe you’re beautiful once I show you just how damn sexy you are. I’ve dedicated my life to tapping into your sensuality and sexuality until it pours from you. I loved once and lost. My heart shattered and I committed myself then to providing women pleasure. I am the Wonderfuck and this is my vocation. Or so I thought.
Until Tara.
My sexy neighbor with her douchenugget ex-fiancé. Tara and I weren’t friends, we were barely acquaintances, until the tears, and the fistfight, and then … the sex.
Now what do I do? I can’t be myself with her, and I can’t be Wonderfuck. I want her, but having Tara means watching the walls of my carefully crafted existence crumble. While I have the strength to provide countless orgasms, I’m not sure if I have the strength to love.
Want more smart, sexy romance? Keep reading for an excerpt from one of my other popular books.