Page 119 of A Shot at Love
“Marry?”
Ky’s eyes narrowed, then relaxed. “I really should be pissed off that you sound so horrified about the possibility, but I’m not.” He pressed his lips against her palm in the softest, gentlest of caresses. “We’re practically living together as it is, you know, and you haven’t said boo about it.”
“No, I—”
He wasn’t going to give her any room for an argument. “You’ve let me in, Gemma, to your home and your heart, something I don’t think you’ve ever done before. I just want you to know, to realize and believe, I won’t be walking out of either. Ever. I love you. I want to make a life with you. I want you to believe when we go out the door in the morning we’ll be walking back through it that night and every night after, together.”
Emotions gamboled across her face. He knew she was conflicted. Who wouldn’t be with her scarred childhood history? But he hoped—wished—she could get over the doubt and see what he was saying was the truth.
“Can I speak now?”
He grinned at her piqued tone. He’d never known until he’d met her what a turn-on annoyance could be.
With a nod, he said, “The floor is yours. Or, more accurately, the couch.”
She did her darndest to fight the grin, but he saw it peek through.
With her hands still on his cheeks, she lifted and kissed him on the lips.
“I like the way you talk,” he told her.
She pinched his cheek and laughed when he cried out, “Ow!”
Then her mouth turned serious, the glaze in her eyes intense.
“It’s no lie I have trust issues with men.”
“Given your past, it’s understandable.”
“I thought it was my turn to speak?”
“Sorry.” He pressed his lips together.
She waited a second before saying, “I’ve always protected myself from falling in love. I never let any man get close enough that he could hurt me. Until you.”
He wanted to tell her he’d never hurt her, but kept quiet, as she’d asked.
“Maybe it was because we were forced to be together, to depend on one another, to trust one another completely, to just…be with one another. I don’t know. But what I do know is that despite all my efforts not to, I wound up falling in love with you, too. Totally.”
She pulled his head down until it lay on her chest.
“I started to think maybe I was the kind of girl who could have her own happily ever after. A family. A life with a partner. I’d never pretended those things were possible for me before.”
She stroked his back with the tips of her fingers, as he stayed silent.
“Those five days I didn’t hear from you after I got back were worse than when I was confined to the safe house and not allowed to work. Everything you’d said to me ran through my head in an unending loop, assuring me you cared for me. But your actions, or inactions, were starting to prove you didn’t. And that hurt, Ky. More than any hurt could have, because all I could think was I’d given you my heart and you’d left it. Abandoned it. Just like my father.”
Ky hugged his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
“When you came back, I thought, okay, he does care. I’ll just enjoy the time we have together, knowing it won’t last, but happy he’s here for the time being. I won’t let myself think about the future again. I won’t let myself hope.”
When she choked on the last word, Ky lifted up to see tears falling down her cheeks.
He swiped at them with the pads of his thumbs as he held her gaze in his.
“But when you told me you loved me—me—and then practically moved in—”
“No practically about it,” he said.
“—I allowed that hope to worm its way back in. It’s taken root and buried itself deep, deep down.”
“Gemma? Baby, what are you saying? I need to hear the words.”
She pulled him back until their lips were touching lightly. Against them, she said, “I want the same things you do. A future together, children, shared memories. Marriage, tomorrow, next week, or next year, if you want it—”
“I do.”
They both laughed.
“I want it all and I want it with you, Ky.”
