Page 80 of Undeniable Love
“I love you,” he said gruffly. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. I know this probably isn’t the best time to be saying any of this—and I’m not just saying it because of everything that’s happening—but…I wanted you to know. I’ve wanted to tell you for some time now, but there just never seemed to be the right time.”
Her heart kicked hard in her chest.
Jax loved her.
And she…
“There’s no pressure for you to say it back,” he softly told her. “That wasn’t why I said it. It just…we’re sitting here baring our souls and I just wanted to say it.”
She wanted to say it—she really did—but for some reason, she didn’t.
Couldn’t.
Still, he caressed her cheek before kissing her softly. “How about we watch a little TV and get some sleep? Tomorrow’s going to be wild, I’m sure.”
And just like that, the TV was on, and they were getting cozy under the blankets, and before she knew it, she could barely keep her eyes open.
Maybe all the drama and emotion took more of a toll than she thought, because within minutes, she fell asleep.
The next day, everyone was up early, and Juliette was in serious publicist mode.
“I went through all the pictures and videos and already have several reels ready to go,” she said before sipping what had to be her third cup of coffee before nine a.m. “I think we start with something simple and brief like…this picture here.”
Holding up her phone, it was a shot of Lucy and Jax hugging and smiling for the camera yesterday afternoon. They had been laughing because Simon asked if he could go with Jax to the stadium to workout.
That wasn’t the funny part.
The funny part was when he compared his regular morning jog to the kind of workout an athlete did.
“We add a sweet caption on yours, Jax, that simply says, ‘My Girl’ with a heart emoji or something, and on Lucy’s page we use another shot from that same series of shots, with her caption being, ‘My Guy’ with the emoji. It just tests the waters. Then we follow it with the reels I made. We continue to post stuff periodically throughout the day. What do you say?”
Swallowing hard, Lucy went over and grabbed her phone. “Send me everything and I’ll post it,” she said with a smile, even though she was trembling slightly.
“Let Jax post his first and then you do yours a few minutes after. Be sure to tag each other.” Then Juliette looked at Lucy with a combination of respect and pity. “Prepare for your world to change a bit.”
“I’m ready for it.”
Not.
But she kept that to herself.
Juliette took Jax’s phone and did the post for him, and then five minutes later, Lucy posted. Then they all put their phones down when Noah walked in with a gigantic box of baked goods.
“It seemed like a good morning for some muffins,” he said with an easy grin. “I thought about making pancakes, but after last night’s pizza frenzy, I think it would be wise if we all just…stayed out of the kitchen today.”
“Handsome, sexy, and smart,” Lily said as she walked over and kissed him. “How did I get so lucky?”
Lucy was so focused on how cute the two of them were that she didn’t notice Jax coming up behind her until he wrapped his arms around her waist. “I used to tease them about how cutesy and lovey-dovey they were, but…now I get it.”
Melting against him, she thought that was a pretty sweet admission. “They really are adorable.”
Leaning down close to her ear, he whispered, “Not as adorable as us, though.”
And honestly, she couldn’t help but laugh because there was that competitiveness again. She was about to call him out on it when her phone rang. “Do we want to take bets on who it is?”
That’s when Jax’s phone rang.
“And so it begins,” Juliette called out. “Everybody play nice and good luck!”