When words finally came to me, my voice was so out of practice that I coughed for like, a solid ten seconds before my throat felt confident enough for the task. “But you’re dead!” I rasped.
He leaned against the wall in that casual way he had about him I always found sexy. “Why does everyone keep saying that?” His dimpled grin found me and breathed new life into my soul that had been flat lined since I left Nøkken. “Do you people really have that little faith in my ability to be awesome? You’ve seen me kill a Were and off those trolls, but you think a few mermen’ll slow me down?” He considered this, waving one hand in the air as he spoke. The motion was mesmerizing. “Well, they did slow me down, technically. But to jump to the conclusion that I died? Shameful. You’ve seen The Little Mermaid. I’m scarier than them.”
I stood, my breath quickening as I took him in from boot to messy black hair, hoping beyond all I was that he was not a mirage conjured up by my rapidly fraying nerves. “We saw you go under and not come back up,” I argued. “We saw the big pool of blood around a body that looked like yours. They said, ‘fish out the other one’. That was you!”
Jens shrugged. “I guess it wasn’t. Might’ve been the guy I accidentally offed. And by ‘accident’, I mean it was too easy to be on purpose.”
All I could do was stare at him, mouth agape. There he was, in the flesh. This beautiful creature was back from the dead, leaning against my fake husband’s wall as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I’m sure there was a greeting card for this somewhere, but I was at a loss for words. “I… you… but the blood!”
“Not me.” He moved forward, arms still crossed over his chest as he sized me up. He stood in front of me, legs further than shoulder-width apart so he was closer to my height. Jens stared into my eyes and said in his snarky way I’d missed, “You’re going to have to get used to the idea that I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me, Moxie Kincaid.” He ran his hand from my shoulder to my elbow. “Foxy Moxie in this dress.” His nose crinkled. “Give me a minute. I can think of something better.”
“Shut up,” I ordered. I stood up on my toes, closing the gap between us. I was not willing to believe he was real until I tasted his mouth. Our long-awaited kiss was beautiful and painful and warm and slow. We melted in each other’s arms. The stoicism, the snark, the violence, the brave fronts – all of it evaporated as we fell back into the rhythm only we understood.
The heat built from the embers of my confusion and transformed into a fire fueled by desperation. I had to convince myself he was real, that it wasn’t a dream now or one long nightmare I’d been living up until this point.
“Shh,” he cooed between my frantic kisses. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m back.”
“You don’t understand,” I breathed as I deepened the kiss, gently introducing my tongue to his. He moaned, and my body began to hum. “You don’t know what I’ve been through here.” I sucked on his lower lip like it was a piece of delicious candy. He smelled like sugar and tasted even better. I hadn’t felt Jamie’s swell of happiness; our bond was marginally muted by the lingering Gar in his system.
“Tell me.” He broke the kiss, breathing heavily as he stepped back. I noticed a solitary sparkle above his upper lip, and wondered how much lavender powder he needed to keep himself afloat. “Tell me what happened. Jamie’s been useless for information since he got an eyeful of Britt. Foss told me as much as he knows, but he said you went on a hunger strike and took up a vow of silence when you got on the island?”
“Don’t ever do that to me again! I can’t lose another person I love. I just can’t. That was a stupid thing, to split up like that. Never again! And I just stood there and let it happen, but I knew it was a bad plan! We aren’t supposed to be apart, Jens.”
He delivered one slow and meaningful kiss, holding my face even after he pulled away. “That you love me? It’s a heady thing. I never thought I’d actually get to be with you.”
“Don’t die, then. Never ever die. Not even playing Tekken. I can’t take it.”
He held up his hand to heaven and promised, “As you wish it, I will never ever die. I’ll live to be seven hundred million years old, at least. But I suck at Tekken, so I make no promises there. Linus took me to the mat every time.” He pressed his forehead to mine and calmed his sarcasm for his best attempt at a serious moment. “But that means you can’t stop eating and living. You have to try to survive. For me, if no one else. You think you need me?” He shook his head against mine. “I need you.”
I nodded, and I could feel him relax as his shoulders lowered a few inches. I could see in his disquiet that he was worried about me. He’d been through who knows what to get here, but he was most concerned about me. That’s the thing about a man worth keeping.
We sat down on the bed together. Jens leaned his elbows on his knees next to me, gearing up for whatever he’d missed. “Now, talk.”