My One True Love Read Online Free Page B

“I decided that I didn’t like being referred to as a goat.”
    Liz gave him a small smile as she tried to take a few deep breaths and coax her heart into a slower rhythm. Time had only made him more handsome. Laugh lines around his eyes crinkled at her when she still didn’t speak. She could smell the humid, piney aftershave he’d put on, emanating from the steamy bathroom.
    “Is it that bad, Lizzie?” he asked.
    “You haven’t changed at all.”
    “You used to tell me I was pretty hot, so I’m going to say that’s a good thing.”
    “Yeah,” she whispered.
    With one foot, he pushed away from the door frame and walked over to her. His scent preceded him, and she closed her eyes and inhaled. Nothing about him had changed. That same woodsy smell he’d branded all his own still had the power to make her knees go weak. The dimple she’d always loved flashed at her from the corner of his lips.
    “I see you went looking for lights. Like the night I proposed.”
    “ Mmm ,” Liz muttered. She hadn’t been doing it intentionally, but he was right. Her subconscious automatically linked Valentine’s Day with white, sparkling lights, covered with little red plastic hearts like he’d covered the gazebo in when he’d asked her to marry him. Her eyes opened. He stood directly in front of her but didn’t touch her as he reached past her into the box. Somewhere during the last few minutes, she’d dropped them.
    “These look familiar,” Jason mused and lifted the string of lights to inspect them. “Judging the fact you’re white as a sheet tells me they look familiar to you, too.”
    “I…I think I’ve seen them before, somewhere.”
    Jason nodded. “I still have it, you know.”
    “What?” Liz’s breath hitched; she was intrigued yet terrified to hear what “it” was.
    “Your ring. Your mom gave it back to me after she found it in your bedroom. I wanted to pawn it, but sometimes, I still look at it to remind myself of better times.”
    “Why haven’t you married, Jason?” It was a stupid question, but she had to know. An unseen force in her soul pushed the words out of her mouth as if she had no control over her own body.
    He fiddled with the lights in a nervous gesture then shrugged. “I haven’t fallen in love with anyone else.”
    Liz realized all over again the pain he must have gone through. She’d never fully allowed herself to think about the consequences of her actions, but now, as he stood before her with a sadness she’d never seen before haunting his eyes, she knew it had been much harder on him than she ever imagined. Somewhere along the way she’d convinced herself that Oakley was what he wanted. Now she wasn’t so sure.
    “I’m sorry, Jason,” she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
    He bit his lower lip and looked away. “I don’t think about it much.”
    She smiled. If he thought about it half as much as she did, he was just as consumed with it as she was. “Liar.”
    Jason grinned. “Yeah, I am.”
    “I really am sorry. I was selfish and went on with my life. I thought you would rather stay here than be with me.”
    “You make me sound like a martyr.”
    “No. I mean, I dealt with it in my own way, but when I left, it was what I wanted. If I had thought you’d come with me, we might be down a different road now.”
    “But we’re not.”
    “Nope.”
    “And you’re getting married tomorrow.”
    “Yes.”
    He wrenched away from her, tossing the lights back into the box. He walked into the kitchen. “Did you make the hot cocoa?”
    She hesitated at the change of subject. “Yes.”
    She watched as he busied himself pouring the hot chocolate. Her heart ached to go to him and make things right. When she was honest with herself, she knew Jason was the one to rescue her for a reason. She couldn’t get married until she resolved her feelings for him.
    And she wasn’t married yet. Tonight, she would make sure there were no doubts left in her mind about Jason. When