Chapter 24 – Three words

James felt happy living with Juliet. There was no other way to describe it. He had never felt like this before.

The day he realised he was in love with her he stopped in his tracks. It hit him like a truck.

It frightened him for about 10 seconds. Then he thought about it rationally. They lived together, they spent all their time together, he was happy. There wasn't a down side to this. Well other than a possible rejection. But she seemed happy too.

He loved her as he felt safe and comfortable with her. She wouldn't leave him or hurt him. She looked after him and offered him security.

But he was in love with her because of her beauty, intelligence and wit. She was loving and a little damaged like him. She challenged him on a daily basis.

He decided to wait a while until telling her. So he could be certain she felt the same. He didn't want to pressure her.

He never thought he could feel like this, he was in love, had a secure job and friends and was actually happy about it. The stability of it all was reassuring not crushing him. He must have grown up.

He felt a little nervous about going home that night, he felt pressure to act normal. He was also worried about blurting it out, he would have to be careful not to cause a fight.

When he got in she was in the kitchen. He slammed the door behind him which made her jump, she dropped the bag of flour she was holding and a cloud of it flew up into her face.

'James!' She squealed. He couldn't help but laugh, her face was white and she had flour in her hair.

He walked into the kitchen, usually a kiss would work this kind of situation out.

As he approached her he saw her smile too late, he shut his eyes as the flour flew into his face.

He ran forward pinning her to the side, they both scrambled with their hands and his found an egg first. He smashed it on top of her head and she squealed, before slamming one into the side of his face.

He stepped back slightly which gave her time to slip away. He swung and grabbed her wrist, twisting her and pushing her up against the kitchen wall. They were both laughing and out of breath, she looked a mess, but had never looked so beautiful.

He couldn't help himself, he said it...

Those three words . . . .

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Juliet felt happy living with James. Moving in together was a sign that they both wanted this, and wanted it to work.

She realised she was in love with him when at work. She was under a van and froze. It frightened the hell out of her for about 10 seconds before chastising herself. She knew it was going to end up here. They were living together, getting along great, having amazing sex, it was bound to end up here.

She wondered how many women had been in love with him. Did they all think he loved them back? Did he love her? He definitely cared for her. He was very loyal to her. He went out of his way to spend time with her and couldn't keep his hands off her. But wasn't that how he was with other women?

He was always there for her. This was the first time he had been in a proper relationship like this. She knew he wouldn't leave her. But what if he wanted to?

He was sexy, charming and funny. He made her laugh and they could have intelligent conversations and debates. He was damaged but had grown up so much since they had been here. He genuinely seemed happy about having a job, house and woman to come home to.

She decided not to tell him. She would probably scare him off. It was probably obvious to everyone that she loved him, so maybe he knew anyway.

She didn't think she would ever get this. She had thought she would have it with Edmund, but that had been a lie. She had a steady job that she enjoyed, a nice house, friends and a man she loved and that was true to her. She was happy. She barely thought about leaving any more and felt guilty about it.

She felt nervous about being with James that night, she thought she might tell him in a moment of weakness. Probably in a post-orgasmic haze.

When he made her jump and she covered herself in flower she was mortified. She was glad he couldn't see her blush. She was going to have to try and be less clumsy around him or he would notice something was up.

So she threw flour at him. It was immature but she didn't care. He sometimes made her feel like a teenager.

When he pinned her against the wall she felt butterflies. He was looking at her with such intensity, he was dripping with egg and white with flour and looked edible to her. They were both panting laughing.

He caught her by surprise when he said it.

Her breath hitched.

She sighed and replied with...

Those three words . . . .