Page 118 of A Shot at Love
“He offered me a job.”
Gemma kept moving across him, when suddenly his words penetrated. She stopped, pulled back, her hands still in his hair and peered down at him, her perfectly sculpted brows disappearing under her bangs.
“He what?!”
“He told me if I was looking to leave the FBI he could use someone with my skills. Apparently, he’s been more busy than ever lately, and with just Bannerman and him to cover it all, he’s been considering taking someone new on.”
She stared down at him, her expression watchful. A minute ago her body had been humming with arousal against him. Now, she was as tight as a well-tuned piano string.
“Baby, breathe.” He pulled his hands from her skirt and rubbed them along her thighs. He wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this news. In truth, he’d been hoping she’d be overjoyed. But she didn’t look joyful at the moment, she looked…anxious and apprehensive.
Of what, though?
Once she did as he commanded and took a deep breath, her shoulders were still tense as she asked, “What did you tell him?”
“That I had to talk to you about it first.”
“Me? Why? It’s your decision to make.”
Ah. There was the reason for the nerves.
Ky gripped her hips and shifted their positions until she was flat on the couch with him hovering over her. He pushed her knees open with his own and made a nice resting place for himself between her thighs, their bodies touching from waist to toes.
With her cheeks palmed in his hands, he smiled down at her. How to tell her without causing her to bolt up and run from him? He measured his response as he would when dealing with an interrogation: calmly, laying out the facts, and guiding her to the logical conclusion.
“Because every decision I make from now on concerns you.”
“It does?”
“Yes, Gemma, it does.”
When she bit down on the inside of her cheek he knew she was beginning to understand.
“I can hear your brain running around like a wild, mad dervish,” he said with a smile.
“Ky, I—”
“No, baby. Let me say this before you blurt out what I know you’re thinking.”
She squinted, a perfect pout forming on her lips. “What are you now, a mind reader?”
He dropped one soft kiss on the corner of her mouth. Instantly, the pout disappeared.
“No. A Gemma Laine reader.”
Her response to that was a quick snort.
Ky waited a beat. “The reason I told Josh I needed to talk to you first was because I wanted you to know the real reason I’m considering it.”
“You are? Considering it, I mean?”
“Yes. Seriously. And it’s not just because of my changing feelings about the FBI,” he said quickly when she opened her mouth. When she shut it again, he continued.
“Gemma, until recently I thought my job was all I needed. Jon Winters wasn’t kidding when he joked I was married to it. I’ve always thought I’d have a real family one day, but one day kept getting pushed back because there was another investigation or another case that needed to be completed first. I knew I could wait a while before I found the woman I wanted to share my life with.”
He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Then, about a little over a month ago, all that changed.”
The sound of her throat bobbing up and down filled the space between them. “It did?”
He nodded. “The day I met you. The circumstances couldn’t have been worse, I’ll give you that.” He chuckled. “But however we met, whatever we went through, one good thing to come of it is that I fell in love with you. And every day we’ve been together, everything we’ve gone through, has shown me that one day is now. And I can see the terror jumping on your face when I say that.”
“Ky, please—” Her eyes grew moist.
“I know you’re scared Gemma. I know all about your feelings concerning your father’s abandonment, and how it’s hard for you trust. To commit. Hard to trust that love will last, that it’s real. But this is real, baby. What we have, well, it’s what I’ve always wished for.”
She cupped his cheek with her palm. “Ky.”
“I know you need time to get used to this. I’m not asking for you to marry me tomorrow—”
