Page 90 of When Love Is Unexpected

It's now or never.

"When I met you, I thought you were the most beautiful thing my eyes had ever seen. The more I got to know you, the more I realized you are just as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside. Every time I left you, it hurt. Every time you left me to go meet Eric, it killed me. It killed me until I couldn't take it anymore."

"That's why you left," she says.

"I thought distance would help," I say, looking into the emerald ocean I know so well. From the green to the blues and golden specks in her eyes, I know every detail of her gaze. The gaze reserved for me and no one else.

"I was wrong," I continue. "Distance only made me realize I missed you like I would miss breathing."

"What about Helga?" she asks.

"I can't believe you remember her name," I say.

"How could I forget?" she asks. "Helga was the woman who got to see you every day. She was the one who got to talk to you in person. She got to hold your hand. She went on fun excursions with you. She got to sleep with you." She stares at me, searching for something to confirm the latter part of her comment.

"It bothers you that I had an intimate relationship with someone after meeting you."

"A little," she says. "I'm not gonna lie."

"You had Eric."

"I never slept with Eric."

"I didn't know that," I say.

"Right," she says.

"Sometimes, we'd be at Loren's helping her with an order, and you'd get up to go meet Eric. I'd go home and imagine you being with him. It was torture."

"I'm sorry," she says. "I wish you had told me."

"I couldn't tell you, but I tried to show you," I say, "with every touch, with every glance. You had to know."

"I think my heart has always known, but I need you to tell me."

She looks at me expectantly.

"I love you, Laila," I say, throwing all caution to the wind, "I've been in love with you since the moment I met you. Not telling you for fear of losing our friendship is no longer an option. You have to know. You have to know that I can't picture my life without you in it."

Her eyes are welling up with tears. I hope they're the happy kind.

"Is this the part where the prince charming kisses the princess?" she asks.

Chapter 21

Laila

He brings my hand up to his lips. I watch as he kisses my knuckles. When he lets go of my hand and wipes a tear from my cheek, I realize I'm crying. He kisses me on the cheek, my neck, my shoulder.

"You always kiss my right shoulder," I say. "The left one feels left out."

He chuckles softly and presses his lips to my left shoulder. I close my eyes, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his cologne, and feel the comforting warmth of his body melding with mine.

His lips are sweet, and the way he kisses me is so deliberately slow that it drives me crazy and takes my breath away. I feel like a novice learning an art only practiced by true poets. What he does to me is nothing short of poetry in motion.

"Do you want to dance?" he asks.

"You mean that's not what we've been doing for the last five minutes?"

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