Lies That Bind (on hold temporarily)

Chapter Twenty Six

S A R A

I grab James's hand and walk him to my bedroom, mouthing a quick thank you to Alec as we pass the couch. He gives me a solemn nod before downing the rest of his beer and going back to annoying the shit out of Nat.

He's definitely not happy about James being here, especially after seeing how upset I was when I got home from work today, but he's sticking to his word of not getting in the way of what James and I are.

Or could be.

"You have a nice place," James says, looking around my small bedroom before settling his eyes on me.

"Says the man with the million dollar apartment," I tease, wrapping my arms around his waist.

He laughs. "It's not quite that much," he smiles, scratching the back of his head. "Plus, this place feels like a home."

"Mhmm, sure."

His hands cup my cheeks, "But that's mainly because you're here," he says, kissing the tip of my nose.

"Is that right?"

"Definitely," he smiles, pressing his lips to mine.

His kiss is soft and slow. The complete opposite of the one from earlier, and my heart swells in my chest. He's back. My James is back. My sweet, caring, and too-fucking-good for me James.

Don't get me wrong, I loved how desperate and aggressive he was, but this? This is so much better.

"How about we do this all night instead?" he asks against my lips, diving back into our kiss immediately after.

"James," I giggle, placing my hand on his chest.

He groans and leans his forehead against mine. "Fine," he huffs.

"If you changed your mind, it's okay. We don't have to do this tonight."

Sighing, he grabs my cheeks and presses one last kiss to my lips. "No. We're doing this tonight. This day turned out to be an emotional shitshow, might as well just turn it into a full-blown dumpster fire. "

"Okay," I whisper, tearing myself from his grasp to crawl onto the bed.

He joins me, leaning against the headboard, "Have at it."

Oh, God, why can I not remember any of my questions? Think, dammit, think!

Bingo. "Your mom mentioned you have a brother?"

A smile takes over his face, relieved that my first question isn't about his ex. "Yeah. RJ. He's three years older than me."

"Are you close?" I ask.

He nods. "He and his wife moved out of the city a couple years ago to raise my niece, so we don't get to see each other very often apart from holidays and birthdays, but we talk a lot." He digs his hand into his pocket to grab his phone, scrolling through his pictures until he gets to one of him and one of the cutest little girls I've ever seen. "That's the whole family at her third birthday party."

"Looks like I have some stiff competition," I tease, zooming in on his niece clinging to him with the biggest smile on her face.

"Definitely," he laughs. "She isn't too big on sharing me. She doesn't leave my side anytime I'm around. I usually have to wait until she falls asleep to leave, otherwise there's a whole mess of screaming and crying."

I hand back his phone, "That's adorable. She's adorable."

"Yeah, she is," he smiles, locking his phone and placing it on the nightstand.