Here at Last (20 page)

"Breakfast
will be ready in
about half an hour," he said.

“Really?
” I
was
surprised.
“
That's so sweet
of you
. Thank you
."

"It's the least I could do for my
angel
,
"
he said
touching my face
.

I reached my arms around him, and we held each other. I inhaled him, knowing that he'd be leaving at the end of the week and that I
had
better absorb him while I could. I was quiet.

"What's wrong?" he asked, my head against his shoulder.
I shook my head, and he pulled back a little to look at me. “What’s the matter?"

“I miss you."

He smiled.
“I'm right here
.”

“You know what I mean
.”

He reached up and stroked my face
with
his hand. "I know,” he said. “Me, too."

I sighed and took his hand in mine, kissing it. “Thank you for coming here. I know it's a long trip. I just appreciate the times
that
I get to see you."

Running his finger along my cheek, h
e looked at me
but didn't say anything.
I knew that look
; he was
trying to come up with
a way to fix whatever it was that was making me unhappy
.
While I’d never been unhappy with anything that JT had said or done, the few times that I’d been upset or disappointed about something, he had always taken it upon himself to try to resolve the issue. I didn’t want him to worry about anything when it came to me and regretted having
mentioned it
.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so serious
,
"
I told him.

He shook his head. "Don't apologize. We’ll
be together
over the holidays. Let's
just
focus on that right now. Then, we'll see what we can do."

“That sounds perfect,” I said,
kiss
ing him
. “I'm going to wash up and get dressed. I’ll be back in a few minutes."

I took a quick shower and dressed for the day in a pair of brown slacks and a light blue
blouse
.
When
I
emerged from
the bathroom, the apartment smelled incredible.
I walked into the kitchen
and noticed that
JT had
already
set the table and was taking some
roasted
potatoes
and sautéed spinach
out of the oven.

“
That
smells
wonderful
," I said.

He smiled and filled both plates
. There were already
parfait glasses with
fresh fruit
salad sitting on the table
.
I poured water and orange juice
for both of us
and set
those glasses
on the table.

After breakfast,
JT
joined me for
a
meditation class
in my building.
He hadn't done much meditation before but enjoyed the class. W
e returned to my apartment
to shower and change
before going to a concert in the city. It was an unusually mild day so we went for a long walk after lunch. In the afternoon, we visited some
museums
that I had never seen before.

That evening,
he
took me to dinner
. W
e
held hand
s
across the table as he toasted to
our
good health and another wonderful year together. I felt so fortunate to have him in my life. When the waitress brought dessert, it had a single candle in it.

“Make a wish," he said quietly.

I thought of something and smiled
before blowing
out the
candle.

"
What
did you
wish
for
?" he asked.

I laughed. “I'm not supposed to tell you
or it
won't come true."

“But if you tell me,” h
e chided,
“
I might be able to make it come true."

Becoming more serious, I told him, "I wished that we
c
ould have
every
dinner together."

He squeezed my hand and smiled. "I'll see what I can do. First, open this." He slid a squa
re box across the table to me. It was w
rapped in silver paper and tied with a green rib
bon,
and
I had a feeling that this wa
s going to be another
extravagant
gift.

“JT," I began.

He put up his hand and shook his head. "Just enjoy it."

I nodded. "Okay."

I untied the ribbon and unwrapped the paper. Slowly, I lifted the hinged blue velvet lid
of the jewelry box
and
peered
inside. I looked
back up
at JT, who was s
miling. Making me happy
always seem
ed
to make him happy.

I shook my head. "
JT
,
i
t's beautiful."

Inside the box lay the
antique
choker made of blue topaz and
tiny
diamonds that we had seen
almost a year before at
Christmas.

"How did you…?"

He laughed. "I'm not going to give away all of my secrets."

He got up from the table and walked around behind my chair. I took the necklace from the box
and handed it to him. H
e placed it around my neck and fastened the clasp. Then, he
walked back to his seat, sat down,
and looked at me.
"You look beautiful
,
"
he said
tenderly
.

I reached up and felt it as he paid for our meal. Even without the gift, this was the nicest birthday
that
I had ever had, and I told him
that
when we returned
my
apartment. I didn't remember the last time
that
someone
had made such a fuss over me.

“JT, you need to be careful. You're spoiling me. I'll be ruined for life."

H
e just laughed and took me into his arms. "
I want
you
to be
happy," he said
, becoming a little more serious
. “You make me happy.”

I looked at him and smiled. "JT Knight, I love you so much."

I reached my arms around his neck and kissed him. I loved the way
that
he kissed
me
and was
always excited
by it
.
He led me into the bedroom, and we lay down on
the comforter
while h
is hands
and
mouth
explored
my body. By the time he
returned
to kiss me, I was ready for him.
He
lay on his back,
and
I climbed on top of him
. H
is
hands were on my thighs
holding
me
against
him
as tightly as
he could
.

“You feel exquisite," he whispered.

In truth, I loved making him feel this way. I didn't want to move too quickly because I
enjoyed keeping
him on the edge of ecstasy for as long as I could.
W
hen he couldn't stand it anymore, he reac
hed
his arm behind me and
carefully roll
ed
us over so that he was on top
and
thrust into me as quickly and as deeply as
humanly possible
.
By then, he was always ready to come, but he would try to wait for me. Generally, he didn't have to wait very long. We had the chemistry and the unconditional love. In short, we had it all.

Chapter 20

JT returned for Christmas a few weeks later
and stayed
all the way through New Year's
.
I’d looked forward to our time together and had offered to host Christmas at my house this year. Although he’d asked his parents if they wanted to join us, his father had begun dating
a woman named Victoria
and
had
decided to stay in Houston
with her
over
the holidays. Meanwhile, JT’s mother would be playing at a holiday concert and would
spend
Christmas
with one of her sisters
, who’d been recently widowed
.

Although I was sorry that his parents couldn’t make it, the holiday was very special.
Denise and her kids
came to my apartment on Christmas Day, and we had a wonderful time together
.
Despite our best intentions, I’d only seen Denise once since
the previous
Christmas when she and I had met for lunch one day. This
was the first
chance
I’d
had
to
me
e
t
her kids
, and they
were a lot of fun
.
Denise
had weathered
her divorce
and seemed to be doing well. Throughout the day, w
e all
laughed so much that our stomachs hurt
by evening
.
Just before seven o’clock, Denise
decided to leave when a new snow began to fall.

We said our goodnights and agreed that we should make this an annual tradition. After
she and her kids
left, I turned off the lights, and JT and I sat together on the sofa and held hands as we leaned
back into the cushions
and stared at the Christmas tree.

He wrapped one arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the side of the head. “Thank you for everything you did today.”

I smiled sleepily and closed my eyes, turning my face toward his neck and resting it there. “I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.”

“They had a great time,” he said.

“
I did, too.” I was quiet for a moment
and reached for his hand
. “
Thanks for helping cook and for loading the dishwasher.”

He smiled
and turned to look at me
. “Like I was going to let you do it all
by
yourself?”

I
squeezed his hand and
looked off toward the Christmas tree, not quite focusing on the sparkling colored lights.
Feeling his fingers wrapped in mine
, I thought about all that
JT
had done for me – not only since we’d been dating but before that. When we were working together and I was having problems with David,
JT
had tried to offer help or support although I
’d
never
taken
him up on
any of
it. Once
we’d begun dating
, he had
been
like a king doting on his queen. I couldn’t have imagined a more thoughtful, attentive, loving man.

JT looked at me curiously.
“
What’s on your mind
?”

“
Lucinda was an idiot,
”
I said softly.

This surprise
d him
, and he shook his head
. “What do you mean?”

“JT, when you’re in love, you give everything. I can’t imagine
that
you were
any
different with Lucinda. She was a fool for
leaving
you.”

I felt a
quiet
streak of anger toward her for the hurt that
she
had caused him
, and it made me feel protective
of him
.
He was quiet
.
When
I reached up and turned his face toward mine
,
he
looked a little pained
, and his eyes were wet with tears
.