She nudges me back with her shoulder. “Hmm, maybe I was.”
She scoots away from me so she can turn and face me more head on. Her eyebrows knit together and she suddenly looks serious.
“Sunday morning when you walked out of my house, I crumbled. I wanted to run after you but it was like my legs wouldn’t work. In my heart I knew I’d do anything to be with you, but my head kept stopping me with doubts like hurdles that seemed too high to jump over.”
“Hurdles?”
“Like what if I can never be everything that you want?”
“What if you already are?” I reply.
Her eyebrows relax and she sighs, but then she starts blinking.
“But what if over time, I’m not enough for you . . . and you get tired of me?”
I have to press my lips together to keep from laughing. This handful of a woman thinks she may not be enough for me? Oh good Lord . . . does she have no sense of how extraordinary she is?
I suddenly feel a fury burn in my chest. I want to beat the hell out of her dad, her ex, the Viking, and any man who ever made her feel that she wasn’t worthy . . . wasn’t enough.
I reach out and take her hand. “We aren’t teenagers, Elle. We’ve both been out and about in the world and have known a lot of people. You’re the most exciting, fun, sweet, sexy, awesome woman I’ve ever met.”
She tugs at my hand. “You forgot smart.”
“Yeah, you’re smart, and I’ll add sassy, too.”
“And you like that I’m sassy?”
“Are you kidding? I love it.”
She sits up taller. “You know what? I’ve started realizing that I deserve you. Some people may look at me right now and think, she needs this man but doesn’t deserve him. But I do deserve you.”
I press my lips together so I don’t grin. “And why’s that?”
“Because I’m a good woman and I love you with all my heart, and want to be my best for you.”
“Yes, you deserve me and I’d be damn lucky to have you.”
She glances down at our hands where my thumb is rubbing across her palm.
“So do you think you’d be willing to take a chance with me, knowing I’ve still got all this stuff to work out?”
“Yes. I’m all in. What about you? Are you willing to take a chance on me? I mean, I hate to break this to you, but I’m not perfect.”
She shakes her head. “Damn. I thought you were.”
“Nope. Not even close.”
“Well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” she says winking at me.
“Yup. We’ll take one step at a time and figure it out as we go along. So you’re going to be my girl?” I ask as I edge closer to her.
“Yes, I’m all in.”
My relief is intense as she presses her lips against mine. This is the kiss that steals my heart. She’s got me now, no matter what lies up ahead. It’s the kiss that closes the door on our past, and flings the new one open for our future.
And believe me, I can’t pass through it quick enough.
Within seconds she’s on my lap and we’re lip-locked, her hands in my hair, across my shoulders, on my chest . . . filling me up with love until I’m overflowing. It’s so emotional that we don’t even grope each other and start pulling off clothes.
This feeling is more intense than that early morning a week ago when we shared all the feelings that we’d hidden from each other. This time we’ve been tested. We sunk to the bottom and separated, but now we’ve surfaced together and we’re moving toward the horizon up ahead.
“I love you, Elle,” I whisper when we part to catch our breaths.
She’s glowing, her joy palpable. I’m going to bronze that damn book Patrick gave her and put it on our future mantel.
“I love you, too.”
“So am I still your bridge?” I ask, only partially teasing.
She places her hands on either side of my face and gazes at me with a look so full of emotion it overwhelms me.
“You were never just my bridge, Paul.”
It’s weird, but just like my parent’s way, I sense what Elle’s going to say next before the words leave her lips.
“Yes, you’re my bridge but also my heart, my future . . . and my destination.”
Those words are everything. I pull her back into my arms.
She eases closer and lets out a contented sigh. “I’ve finally arrived.”
I smile from the inside out as I take her hand in mine.
“Welcome home.”
Also by Ruth Clampett
Animate Me
Mr. 365
Work of Art ~ Book 1 The Inspiration
Work of Art ~ Book 2 The Unveiling
Work of Art ~ Book 3 The Masterpiece
Many thanks to those of you that
take a moment to leave a review
~ it’s much appreciated.
Acknowledgements
I love our community of indie authors, bloggers and readers and am so grateful for the wonderful friends I’ve made that support and encourage me with my work. I’ve met the most amazing people who have embraced not just me, but my daughter Alex, and our lives have been richer for it.
Thank you Lisa Fortunato, Glorya Hidalgo, Azu Sandoval, and beta Amy Marxen Jennings for reading and giving notes on the rough draft of Wet and making me believe I had something special with Paul and Elle. The continual encouragement from my dear Lost Girls has meant so much, as has cheerleading from Alex, DJ, Kellie, Suzie and Elli.
I so appreciate my content editor Angela Borda who gives me tough love when I need it, and rewards me with side notes that make me laugh out loud. You make this challenging process of content editing something I look forward to.
It was such a delight to work with Heather Maven on Wet. You bring such a smart understanding of characters and their voices to the beta process. Your feedback was a gift.
Heartfelt thanks to Neda, of Ardent Prose PR, who shows great care and enthusiasm for my work and pushes me out of my promotional comfort zone—which is exactly what I need.
Jada! You hit it out of the park with this bookcover! This is our sixth book to work on together and I think we make a great team. Thank you for approaching every project with passion and great ideas.
Thank you Flavia Viotti and Meire Dias of Bookcase Agency for your continued support. You ladies rock.
Many thanks to Melissa of There For You Editing for cleaning up the error of my ways…and to Christine of Perfectly Publishable for doing a terrific job formatting.
I’ve been so lucky meeting amazing readers like you that I’ve connected with either through social media or at author events. If we haven’t yet met, I’d love to hear from you.
With a full heart I thank you for inspiring me to share my stories.
About the Author
Ruth Clampett, daughter of legendary animation director, Bob Clampett, has spent a lifetime surrounded by art and animation. A graduate of Art Center College of Design, her careers have included graphic design, photography, VP of Design for WB Stores and teaching photography at UCLA. She now runs her own studio as the fine art publisher for Warner Bros. where she’s had the opportunity to know and work with many of the greatest artists in the world of animation and comics.
Wet is Ruth’s sixth book, following Animate Me, Mr. 365 and the Work of Art Trilogy. She lives in Los Angeles and is heavily supervised by her teenage daughter, lovingly referred to as Snarky, who loves traveling with her mom with a sketchbook in hand.
Connect with Ruth
RuthClampettWrites.com
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