Page 65 of Passion Restored

Owen tucked her close, not quite ready to believe that everything he’d ever wanted could be in his arms right then. Holy hell, he never truly thought this could happen, and yet he knew it was.

Liz was his.

Finally.

“We all have baggage, Lizzie.” She snorted. “Some more than others, sure, but we all have it. Hell, you’re going to have to deal with my organizational tendencies and the fact that I tend to over plan things. Daily.”

“Still not as much baggage as me,” she muttered into his chest.

“Well, it’s not a competition, and I’m sure you’ll find things that annoy you about me over time. But that’s the thing, Lizzie, it’s time. I want you by my side and in my life until the day we move on to the next. I want to raise our child together and make mistakes, knowing we can fix them if we try. And if you get scared, promise not to run. Because if you do, I’ll just hold you captive with paperclips and binder clips if I have to. I have a desk full of them.”

She blinked at him for a moment before throwing her head back and laughing. “You’re such a dork, Owen Gallagher.”

He sobered before gently pressing a kiss to her sweet, sweet lips. “I’m your dork, Lizzie. All you have to do is stay.”

She looked into his eyes, and they both let out a soft breath. “I’ll stay. As long as you’re here, I’ll stay.”

Owen’s heart threatened to explode as he took her mouth again in a heated kiss. He had his woman, the one who would test him and keep him on his toes until the end of his days, and soon, he’d have a new life to nurture and teach how to plan things when everything got to be too much.

And when he couldn’t quite take it all, he knew he wouldn’t be alone.

Because the woman in jeans who’d knocked his socks off the first night he’d met her had overcome everything inside her and in her past so she could be his as much as he could be hers.

There were no lists or spreadsheets for that kind of destiny and chance.

And that, Owen Gallagher knew, was just fine with him.

THE END