To Love Jason Thorn

by Ella Maise

Then Jason’s lips were at my ear and he whispered, “You’re supposed to love me, my beautiful wife.”

“You should look at me like you love me, Olive, the way I’m looking at you.”

Right at that moment, he was just mine. My dream boy. My childhood crush. My first love. My only love. And now my pretend husband.

Her hair was still damp from the shower she had taken after the shoot and she barely had any makeup on, and she looked perfect in my eyes.

Still reeling from our photo shoot, I was having trouble looking away from her. Every little detail seemed to matter somehow. The way her cheeks were flushed from laughing so much, the way I caught her looking at me under her lashes, the way her eyes sparkled whenever I reached out to hold her hand. It was becoming impossible to not notice every little thing about her.

She was

seeing me, and maybe for the first time, I was seeing her too. Her voice called to me as much as her eyes did, but then she hid those beautiful eyes from me, and I found myself crossing the room to get to her.

“Do you see me, Olive?”

The question was important to me, her answer even more so. It wouldn’t be the movie star Jason Thorn kissing her into oblivion in a few seconds. It would be me. Jason. Her friend. The man who wanted to make her his.

“I’ve always seen just you, Jason.”

Then my lips were on hers, and her lips were on mine. We kissed long enough to cover years. In front of everyone, her lips became mine and I took her breath for myself, because I needed it more than she did.

I wanted to own those secret smiles just as much I wanted to own her beautiful heart. I wanted to be the reason for their existence.

My heart was ready to be hers if she wanted to take it for herself and keep it for an eternity.

“Hello,” she whispered hoarsely. I nipped at her lips and she gave me one of her secret smiles. My first one.

“You sure took your time,”

Ignoring the room full of people around us, I asked, “You’ve been waiting for me to kiss you?” She came out from hiding and looked into my eyes with the sweetest grin on her face. “Ever since I was a little girl.” Kissing me on the cheek, she added, “Thank you for making my dream come true.”

My heart ached with love for a little girl who in some ways had always belonged to me.

“In all the ways that matter, I’m your first, Olive. Do you understand?”

“You’re perfect sweetheart. You’re perfect and now you are all mine.”

Being with him felt perfect. Our kind of perfect. Beautiful. Just like I’d always dreamed.

He wouldn’t understand, but yes…finally kissing someone you’d longed to kiss for so many years and actually having him kiss you back with just as much passion…it was indescribable. The only thing I could say was that it did something to your heart, something that knocked you on your ass with the unexpected force of it.

“I’m in love with your sister, you idiot.”

“I fell in love with your daughter, sir.” Looking over my shoulder, I gave Dylan a hard look. “That’s what changed.”

“When did I start missing you this much, sweetheart? When did I…” Another sigh. “I was so worried when Alvin said they didn’t know where you were.”

“Is your heart still beating just for me, Olive?” he asked softly, his voice low and sweet.

“I never want you to run away from me again. If you do, I will always come after you. I want you to remember that. That being said, I will never give you a reason to run away from me either.”

“This is not a game any more, is it?” I asked. “I thought about that on my way over here. I’m not sure if it ever was, baby.”

“I love you, my beautiful little Olive. My wife.”

I tilted my head and gave her a pointed look. “Try not to faint over another guy in front your husband. It’s not a good look on you.”

“This was our story from the very beginning, Olive. If you hadn’t written this book, I would’ve never found you. Hell, maybe we were written for each other from the very first day we met, but it would’ve taken me a long time to find you on my own.” I kissed her nose. “So thank you for finding me. Thank you for writing yourself into our happy and inevitable ending.” I kissed her again. “I talked Tanner into letting me shoot this scene with you. Everyone will think it’s Lindsay, but when we watch it together for the first time, we’ll know that I’m kissing the woman I love and no one else.”

Fake rain pouring down on us, I kissed her softly and slowly, countless times. At one point, Tanner switched cameras, but there was no one that could pull Olive away from me. She was mine. I wouldn’t let anyone take her away, not evil little bees and certainly not Adam Connor.

told you that I would never forget you Olive Thorn, and it looks like my heart never did, sweetheart,”

“My world is a less scary place with you in it, baby. I will kiss you a thousand times every day if that’s what it takes to keep you in love with me for the rest of our days.”

“These lips?” I touched her lower lip with my thumb. “I never want you to feel someone else’s lips against what’s mine. I am it for you, Olive, the one, the right one—whatever you want to call it, I’m that.”

“I love you, Olive,” I whispered, out of breath at last. “Surprisingly, you’ve been the best kind of heartache, Jason Thorn.” She smiled against my greedy lips and everything was perfect in a way it had never been before. “That’s a wrap, folks!”