Chapter 15

After sitting alone for awhile, and after I watched from the nursery window as Kendall left the house, I stood to my feet. I did pick James, for what it was worth. I wanted to be with him because he listened to me, he made me feel as perfect as he saw me to be. I just wasn't ready for him to know it yet, but I was afraid Kendall may have given it away. I walked back down the hall to see James sitting at the bottom of the stairs. My feet gently descended as he had his elbows on his knees, resting.

"James?" I asked in a quiet voice as I stood about three quarters of the way down the stairs. His head jerked at the sound of my voice, he looked behind himself to see me. He stood, his hands hesitant at his side, and then looked as if he wanted to touch me.

"Liz." He said quietly, as if he hadn't said it for so long it felt brand new on his tongue again. I smiled shyly, taking in the gorgeous, inside and out, man standing about two steps down from me. He smiled then too, his thousand watt smile giving me the chills. "Oh, uhm, duh." He shook his head and looked to my feet for a moment before bringing his eyes back to mine "Congrats with your commercial and foundation." He said genuinely happy sounding for me. I nodded, blushing slightly.

"Thank you so much." I smiled softly.

"You weren't kidding when you said you wanted to change the world." He told me, light-heartedly. I laughed looking down shyly.

"Nope, I guess not." I smiled before looking up to meet his gaze again. "Look, James..." I started trying to get this over with. I didn't even know if he wanted to be with me anymore. I was pretty sure by his look in his eyes when he looked at me, but I couldn't be sure. There was still a chance he would tell me to fuck off. He shook his head putting up a hand to silence me. My heart dropped at seeing him like this.

"It's okay. I figured you'd pick Kendall. That's why he went outside? To get his car so you two can leave?" He asked sadly, but he kept smiling trying to force me to believe it was alright with him, as long as I was happy. I shook my head with a furrowed brow.

"No, no. That's not it at all actually." I told James touching his arm, barely grazing his shirt sleeve. He froze at my touch, his eyes fixated on mine.

"What do you mean?" He asked me, seeming almost giddy in his eyes. I gazed into his eyes, studying them, diving into the hazel pools I missed for six months, and then slid my hand down from his arm to his hand, where I held it. My eyes searched his face as I spoke.

"I've known for awhile who I wanted to be with. I also knew, that before I could be with someone and be truly happy, I had to figure out what I wanted for myself. I needed to establish myself. I needed to work on me. I needed to be confident in who I was fully, and have something that was my own. And I do now, the foundation, it's mine. I'm happy truly by myself now, but I want someone to share it with now, where I felt like I needed someone else to share it with." I said trying to convey my thought process sufficiently. James looked astonished, tilting his head as his confusion drifted from his eyes.

"You worked on yourself this whole time?" He asked out loud, which I didn't know if I should answer or not. Then he added, "on this foundation and your dream the whole time?" He asked looking almost glowing in the face as he realized I just needed to become my own person before I could be with him. Not that I didn't know I truly wanted to be with him, because all along I think I had known he was the one I was going to choose. Deep down I had known the hazel eyed god before me held my heart. I nodded not sure if I should smile or not as I searched for another response in his eyes. He smiled again, letting the happiness reach his eyes.

"That's the Liz I missed every single day." He whispered shaking his head. I smiled as my stomach flipped happily inside my abdomen making me let out a relieved breath. I instinctively wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head against his chest. His arms were back around me, filling the small hole inside my chest where he so quickly nuzzled his way into my heart. It had been empty all this time, and with his arms around me now, I felt invincible. His touch, his warmth, and his arms around me were all I needed to make the pain of hurting Kendall go away. I felt at home and at ease in his arms. They were where I needed to be.

"Do you, possibly want to leave your own party?" James asked then as he pulled away, a smirk on his lips. I groaned happily.

"I thought you'd never ask." I said relieved. James kissed my forehead and took a hold of my hand. We walked down the few steps of the staircase and then were out the door before anyone could stop us. As soon as we were out in the driveway, I pulled on James's arm to stop him from walking away so fast. His eyes met mine as he spun around to see me stopped in my tracks, staring up expectantly at him. He took that as an invitation to lean down, pausing for any objections for only a moment as he then planted the first kiss of our relationship on my lips. The sparks were back and I loved that feeling. The adrenaline and the smooth burning I got from his lips were igniting my body. His hand was tangled in my hair as the other held my waist close to him. We kept ourselves entertained for a few moments, just soaking in each other as our mouths thirsted for one another, but we were stopped because of the rain. It started as tiny drops, but the more we ignored it, the bigger they got, sending chills down my spine as I shrieked at the cold droplets. He snickered and pulled away from me. James grabbed my hand and pulled me to his car. He opened the passenger side door for me to get in.

"We really are a force of nature aren't we?" I asked him winking as I got in. James ran around to the drivers side.

"Did I tell you or what?" James asked smugly, leaning over and putting his hands on my face to bring me close. I leaned closer and left my lips on his for as long as I could. But as lightning struck over the canyon causing a loud crack of thunder startling me to jump since it was right behind the PenaVega house. "Whoa, calm down there jumpy." James teased pulling from my face with his bright white teeth on display. I smiled studying his face. "So, where's our destination?" James asked with a raised brow as he started the car and then backed up to leave the driveway. I stared at him and shrugged.

"As long as I'm with you, I'm good." I smiled as he grabbed my hand as he drove to the end of the driveway to turn onto the Main Street.

"Are you hungry?" James asked because he was, I knew him so much more than I had realized. I smiled to his profile as he drove.

"Starving." I whispered in relief. James held my hand the entire drive and even when we got to the restaurant. Once we arrived, we were sat at a booth, and of course James sat next to me. I leaned my head on his shoulder and felt happy with the memories coming back of our short time together instead of trying to keep them from rising to the surface of my subconscious like I had done for the last six months. James ordered a steak and I got a chicken Marsala.

"I really missed you." I told him, my eyes on his face the entire time we sat beside each other, between ordering drinks and waiting for our meals to be prepared. James smiled sheepishly down at me.

"I missed you too. Trust me, I about went insane. Asking Carlos about you every chance I got wasn't exactly masculine or empowering in anyway." James chuckled leaning his head on mine. I smiled at his confession.

"You'll always be the one I asked about too." I said sighing in content. He was the one I asked about more. He was the one I asked if he had any new roles, or if he was making any more music. I wanted to be kept updated on him.

"You asked about me?" James sounded surprised, his eyes looking down as I glanced up from my head on his shoulder.

"Well, I asked Lexi. Carlos would've told on me." I said laughing slightly as I blushed. James laughed then as well as he squeezed my hand gently.

"I missed that laugh." He sighed sending a wave of pure adoration over me.

"What are your plans for tomorrow?" I asked him randomly after we spoke in hushed tones for a bit.

"Anything you want me to do." James said sounding a little sensual. I giggled and nudged him.

"Really, what did you have planned?" I asked him seriously.

"Honestly, nothing. I mean I was going to work on my Bronco a little. But other than that, not much planned." He said truthfully. I looked up at him. "What do you have planned?" James asked with a small smile.

"Nothing. You know me. If I'm not working now on the foundation or my blog, it's the same old Liz. Watching movies and Oliver petting." I said giggling a little.

"So, we have plans then to do nothing and pet Oliver? Unless you want to hang at my place." James offered cheekily. I gasped.

"Yes, your place. I haven't seen it yet." I said smiling. James smiled and kissed my cheek.

The waiter brought our food and we were happy. We had a lovely night and laughed a lot. We sat at the table for hours until the waiter said they were closing soon. James insisted on paying again so I waited, staring out the front door as he paid for our dinner. I could see James's car was the only one in the parking lot and the sky was being lit up with strikes of lightning. James then joined me, coming up from behind and wrapping an arm around my waist, holding me to his side.

"Ready?" He asked. I nodded taking a deep breath as we rushed out the door and to the car. He opened my door for me as always and then ran around after making sure I was safely inside.

"We gotta stop leaving the house when it's raining." I joked as he sat beside me and started the engine. James laughed.

"Become shut ins when the weather is bad?" He asked me. I shrugged and found myself smirking his way.

"Not like it's a bad thing if we become shut ins together." I said flirtatiously. James looked at me with the corner of his eye.

"Oh really?" James asked intrigued. I giggled and nodded.

"Really." I said in the same tone of voice.

"Did you have anything to drink tonight?" James asked me then with a curious grin. I shook my head.

"Only a little wine." I told him as I watched him start driving us. He smiled looking out before us.

"So I won't need to follow you to the bathroom and hold your hair?" He asked as he licked his lips remembering. I frowned and glared at him.

"Do you have to keep bringing that up?" I asked him annoyed but still happy.

"It's apart of how we bonded, no shame in that." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"You weren't the one puking with a hot guy you barely met holding hair out of your face." I said. He chuckled.

"'Hot guy', eh?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. "In all seriousness, I want to take things slow, Liz. So I won't be spending the night or anything." James blurted then, sending me a vibe I wasn't sure about. I furrowed my brow.

"Okay." I said quietly. He looked to me a moment and then squeezed my hand.

"It's been six months since I last saw you. If I was alone with you, I don't know what would happen, but I want this to last between us." James informed me, clearing some of my confusion from my face as I nodded getting it now.

Soon we were to my apartment and James had to hurry home before the storm got worse. James gave me a kiss goodnight and waited till I was up to the top of the stairs. I watched his tail lights turn back onto the main road and sighed. I would've loved if he had came in and we had another sleep over like the time before. But he was right, we needed to pace ourselves.