Fortuity (Transcend, #3)

by Jewel E. Ann

I’m not supposed to feel Nathaniel Hunt in my chest. He’s not supposed to take root in my mind. His touch isn’t allowed to linger on my skin. Yet, here he is … making a mark that I fear will be difficult, if not impossible, to erase.

We can’t turn off the sun, run from the wind, or push back the tide. Some forces are just too strong. Love isn’t an emotion. It’s a force.

“Now … I want to give you a little advice about boys. Ignore them until they chase you, until they write you a million love letters, until they steal flowers from their mom’s rose garden to give you, until they steal that first kiss and give you the best grin before they tell you they regret nothing.”

Hearts are meant to beat and keep us alive. They’re also there to love, not sit on a shelf in timeout, or in your case, a strikeout. When the time is right, get back in the game and let that heart of yours fall in love again. Okay?” It already has …

You have to treat trust like modeling clay that can be broken and repaired a million times, not like a priceless vase that belonged to your dead grandmother.”

Here’s the thing … you have to love the person more than you hate the lie.

I turn and follow my instinct … I follow her. Even if I can’t have her, it doesn’t stop me from being the guy who chases her.

“I’ve traveled for eight years and countless miles to get here. Right. Here. It’s my turn to get the girl. I’ve earned it. So … yeah … I call dibs. Dibs. Dibs. Dibs! I will fucking level anyone in this life or the next that tries to steal you from me. So just …” I blow out a breath and close my eyes. “Say it.”

“Before … everything.” She laughs a little. “Before Brandon. Before I had the chance to fall in love. I dreamed of you. You didn’t have a face or a name. Your voice was simply a medley of my favorite love songs, the whisper in my head when reading my favorite poems about love. You were the reason I woke up two hours before school to do my hair and makeup in hopes that some boy would give me a second glance. It was you … the idea of you. The dream of you. The promise from my adoring mother that someday I would find my Romeo. When my brain managed to think about something other than hockey or boys … my heart was still thinking of you.”

my hands go straight to Gracelyn’s head, my fingers threading through her wet hair as I kiss her. It’s not the kind of kiss you give someone in front of your ten-year-old daughter. It’s the kind of kiss you give someone when you love them, and you know this might be the last time you ever kiss them. It’s the kind of kiss that makes the other person stumble backward and grab hold of your wrists to keep from falling. It’s the kind of kiss that sustains past the point of reason, to the point of your lungs burning … until the last possible second to leave before missing your flight. “So much …” I rest my forehead against hers as the rain hits in unrelenting sheets. “I love you so much.”

So the answer is more. I love you more than I loved Daisy.” Tears fill her eyes. “I love you more than I loved Jenna. Not because I didn’t love them with my whole heart. I did. It’s just that my time away with Morgan has taught me one thing. Our capacity to love grows with time. It grows with every new person who touches our lives. So I love you more because my heart is bigger.”

This is it. This is what it looks like to love someone deeply … madly … to the depths of your soul. So much it rips your fucking heart out of your chest to let go. My daughter should never settle for less if I deem some guy worthy of her … twenty years from now.