The Years Between Signing and Seeing novel Chapter 518

Before Suzie could finish her sentence, Jamie suddenly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her fiercely into his chest. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his voice breaking into a sob. "Suzie, I'm so sorry. From the moment we got married, I've done nothing but fail you..."

"Let go of me!" Suzie shoved at his chest and pounded her fists against his shoulders. "I asked you a question! Where is Oliver?!"

Jamie took the hits. He didn't even flinch when she bit him. Instead, he just locked his arms around her tighter, refusing to let go.

Through her frantic struggling, Jamie's voice cracked with raw, unhinged desperation. "Suzie, I know you hate me. You can hit me, punish me—do whatever you want to me. As long as you forgive me, I'll do anything."

Suzie's mind was a chaotic mess. Just a little while ago, he had been acting completely normal, and now he was acting like a madman.

She had rushed back to the room, dealt with Stella, and come sprinting back to find them—what the hell had happened in those few short minutes?

Even if they had brawled, it shouldn't have reduced a man like Jamie to this hysterical state.

Suzie stopped struggling. She waited until his ragged breathing seemed to steady before speaking in an utterly frozen tone.

"Let me go."

Jamie stiffened for a few seconds before slowly releasing his grip.

The second his arms dropped, Suzie swung. A sharp, unforgiving slap echoed in the stairwell as her hand connected violently with his cheek.

But Jamie didn't look angry. He didn't even look surprised.

Suzie's body trembled. Her hands flailed blindly, clawing at whatever they could reach, before she managed to press them flat against his chest to shove him. She looked like a terrified, trapped rabbit.

Sensing she might try to bite him to end the kiss he had been craving for days, he kept his other hand firmly gripping her jaw, controlling the angle.

His kiss shifted rapidly—one second bruising and chaotic, the next agonizingly tender, sending overwhelming shockwaves through her system.

This wasn't like the kiss in the parking garage. There was no anger here, no punishment. It was the desperate, reverent claiming of a man who had found a treasure he thought he had lost forever.

Only when he felt her begin to gasp for air did he slowly pull back. As they separated, he leaned in and pressed a deeply tender kiss to her forehead.

He framed her flushed face in his hands, his deep, magnetic voice brushing against her ear. "Suzie, I love you. I've never said it, but it's always been true. Especially after you left. I haven't slept a full night since. I tried to numb myself with work, but I couldn't stop thinking about you. Please, just calm down and let me explain the past. Everything that happened... it was my fault for not communicating with you, my fault for being so hopelessly paranoid..."