Hypnotized by Love

by Sariah Wilson

“I knew it was you. I knew from the second I opened the door that it was you.”

“Savannah Rose Sinclair, I could be robbed of every single one of my senses and I would still know you.”

Now he was the one cutting me off. “Do you think I don’t see you? Don’t know you? I see everything, Sinclair. The good and the bad. I know how kind and compassionate you are. How loving. How loyal. How smart and talented and driven and funny you are. But I also know that you can hold a serious grudge and get angry too quickly and jump to conclusions before you have all the facts.”

“I know. I know because that’s how I’ve felt without you in my life. Like half of me has been missing for years, and I didn’t feel whole again until I saw you in that Starbucks.”

“Because I’ve been in love with you since we were fifteen years old,”

“I love you, Sinclair. You had to know that.”

“I’ve blamed Mason for that rumor for years. You ruined my relationship with him.”

“The second I opened the door. I always know you, and I always will,”

I had been in love with Mason. And I still was.

“You like that he’s competitive with you. You couldn’t stand guys who didn’t challenge you constantly.”

“You like that Mason keeps you on your toes. That he doesn’t act the way you expect him to. And the banter. Even while you were mad at him—I overheard the banter! You two are the cutest.”

There’s only one treat I’m interested in.”

“When I told you that I wouldn’t let you hypnotize me again, that was a lie. I’m mesmerized by you. You’ve been hypnotizing me since the day I came back. You have this hold over me that I can’t shake, and I don’t want to. And it’s no surprise that you were able to hypnotize me in that session, because just looking at you makes me forget my own name.”

“Sinclair,” he murmured, smiling at me, “you’ve always been my best friend. And then one day I looked over at you and all I wanted to do was kiss you and I couldn’t. I didn’t want to risk our friendship. Until that night at the dock, when it got to the point that being near you was driving me insane, and I had to touch you and be with you. That’s why I asked you to the dance.”

“Living in New York as a writer is your dream.” “You’re my dream, Sinclair.”

“You’d give up New York for me?” “I’d give up the world for you,” he said.

“I’m not the one making those sexy little noises.”

“One of the most important things I’ve learned over the years is about forgiveness. For ourselves and for others. For some reason, we see forgiving someone as a weakness or a failing.”

“It doesn’t mean you have to forget or condone what happened. It doesn’t even mean you have to ever speak to or see that person again. But forgiving someone means you don’t let them control you any longer. You get to replace all the heavy, negative feelings that weigh you down and focus on your own well-being instead.

“I’m in love with him.”

“You look gorgeous. Like you should be somebody’s girlfriend.” “If somebody asks me, maybe I’ll consider it,”

“If you’re offering what I think you’re offering, you’re far more savory than sweet.” “You like savory desserts.” “You’re right. Come over right now.”

“Your fight is my fight, Sinclair.”

“I don’t want to lose him,” I admitted. “I cut him out of my life before, and it was a colossal mistake. I don’t want to keep making the same mistake. I don’t have a lot of people that I love, but he is definitely one of them. And so are you.”

“When you did that hypnosis session and I asked what you thought I needed to change, it surprised me that you saw me as a negative person. It made me wonder if I’d been closing myself off to things since I’d lost you, and I didn’t like it. That session we had . . . It made me feel like you gave me permission to be the person I always wanted to be. Like you unlocked a better version of myself. You help me to be the man I want to be, by keeping me on my toes and challenging me. No one understands me the way that you do, and no one else loves the way you love. I adore your big emotions.”

“Sinclair, you’re never too much for someone who can’t get enough of you.”

He looked at me like I was silly. “I knew that you loved me from the way you kissed me, the way you touched me, the look in your eyes whenever you’d see me. I didn’t need the words, Sinclair. But I’m glad I have them.”

“This is where I realized that I was in love with you,” he told me.

“I think you should be my wife, Savannah Rose Sinclair. Because I love you, and I want to be with you every single day of my life. I want to wake up to your snoring and go to sleep with your cold feet against me. I want you to challenge me and one-up me and remind me to be my best self. I want to come back here sixty years from now and hold your hand while we sit on this dock together. I want children and joy and a messy, full life.”