Genre: Romantic Suspense
âI came because Iâ¦â
She stands with me, refusing to back down. âBecause you what?â
âBecause Iâm in love with you. Before you left, I knew I was, but I was too scared to tell you. I knew I had a lot to work on before I could ever be the man you deservedâ¦before I could be worthy of your love.â
She takes a step forward so sheâs almost touching me. Tears shimmer in her startling green eyes. âYou donât get to decide who I give my love to. You already have it. Thatâs one reason I left. I couldnât let myself fall any harder for you because you said you didnât want a real relationshipâ¦that you werenât capable of one. I left to save us both the heartache based on what I thought you needed, not because youâre unworthy of my love. But being away from you has only made me realize I wasnât falling for you, I didâ¦completely. But how can you expect me to believe because I left, you had epiphany and now youâre magically ready to love?â Her chest heaves with emotion as the tears start dropping.
âYou told me you were messed up, but you wouldnât tell me why and now suddenly Iâm worth fighting for?â she points at her chest and then adds, âSuddenly, your issues with love have disappeared?â
I canât take it a second longer. My chest has been heaving right along with hers because she has valid points and theyâre gutting me but sheâs wrong. When she left, I realized I would risk any amount of heartache to love herâ¦to be able to call her mine.
I close the few inches separating us and my lips crash over hers as I take her face in my hands. I almost feel my heart breaking and being put back together at once. My heart is breaking from the shell of old pain Iâm finally shedding only to be healed by the strength and love of this woman in my arms. She broke my heart out of its chains.
My tongue licks her lips, and she parts them for me as I find her tongue and caress it with mine. After a few minutes, we break the kiss to catch our breath and she gazes at me with hope and fear battling for dominanceâ¦hope that Iâm telling the truth and fear that Iâll break her anyway.
Her lips are swollen from my kiss, and I go back for more. This time she winds her arms around my neck and into my hair, knocking off my hat. I slide my hands down to her legs and lift her up so she can wrap them around my waist.
She breaks the kiss again, holding my face in both hands as she searches the depths of my soul and says, âShow me, Tate. Show me you love me.â