Page 167 of Forget Me Not

“And I came home for you.”

Tears burn in the corners of my eyes, but I ignore them, taking a small step toward him. Like if I get too close, I’ll realize this is some fucked up dream and I’ll wake up alone in my living room, dreaming of the man who makes my heart feel like it’s going to leap from my chest.

“I’m in love with you,” he murmurs, as if it’s the most known fact in the world.

“Reid—”

He cuts me off. “I’m in love with you, little bird. I tried to leave. I can’t. I’m here to ask you if you think you can feel even a fraction of what I feel for you.”

My heart swells in my chest until I’m worried it will implode. Everything stops in the small clearing surrounding us.

He’s in love with me. He came home for me.

I don’t even think.

I run down the steps of the cottage, throwing myself in his arms and wrapping myself around him until he stumbles back a step. He clutches me to him fiercely, as if someone might pull me away and finally, finally, after months of missing him, dreaming of him, searching for him in every wave against the coastline, he presses his lips to mine with a rough growl unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

“I’m in love with you too,” I breathe between his nips at my lips and he groans, sinking to the ground, snow and all, and cradling me against him. “I came to Alaska to find you because I decided I couldn’t live without you knowing.”

“Fuck, little bird,” he grimaces, wiping the tears off my face. His hand trembles against my skin, his breathing tight. “I have no idea what I’m doing, but I can’t stop. I fucking love you and I’ll do everything I can to be what you want.”

“Stop,” I hush him, pressing another kiss to his lips, drinking him in. My entire body shakes as I let myself be swallowed by his presence. He’s so warm, so strong. So right. “I love you the way you are. Scars and demons. Your past. I don’t care. I love you.”

“Fuck,” he rasps, pressing his forehead to mine. “I didn’t realize what I’ve been searching for was right fucking here. Waiting for me.”

“So, you’re staying?” I refuse to hide it anymore. I want him. I want him here, in my arms. In my living room. In my life.

“Little bird, I would follow you to the ends of the earth and then, if you jumped off, I would jump right behind you,” he grits, brushing a curl out of my face like it’s the most delicate thing in the world. “You’re mine. Nothing else matters.”

I stare at him, studying him while all the emotions in my chest overwhelm me.

“What if you want to leave?” I breathe and I can’t stop the anguish from rushing through me at the thought of him disappearing again.

“I’ve been running my entire life. Since I was twelve, I’ve made it a point to never stay in one place too long because I didn’t want to face what I did and who I was. You changed me. For better or for worse, I don’t give a shit, because when I was on that boat, all I could think about is this island, with the girl with the ocean blue eyes and the prettiest fucking smile I’ve ever seen. The girl who would sacrifice everything if it meant she could help me.” He pauses, shaking his head as if it’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard. “Me. Me who never let a single fucking person get close enough to me to find out who I really was.”

His rough hand slides through my hair, gripping the roots and he angles my face to look at him until it’s only him I see. The same position as the night he first showed me his scars in the old Whitaker house.

“I love you so much it fucking hurts. I had no idea what this was until I got my wakeup call when someone fell overboard on the boat. Then I fucking knew I had to get home to you. I found you four years ago and you’ve been haunting me ever since. This is it for me, Nova. Marry me.”

My chest flutters, my heart nearly dropping to my toes.

“Marriage is a big—” I start, stammering out the only thing I can think of when the shock rattles through me.

“Big step. One I’m ready to dive into headfirst. If you’ll have me.”

I swore I’d never get married again and I believed it from the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t overcome the guilt of knowing I was moving on, happy and living while Jack’s memories still rested in that little yellow car that sank quietly into the trenches of the Mississippi River.

Then I met Reid.

And everything fucking changed.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes,” I say louder, nodding as the smile spreads across my wind-burned cheeks. “Yes, I’ll marry you. On one condition.”

He pauses, a dark look crossing his face as if he’s willing to do whatever he needs. He wants this.

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