Page 136 of De-Witched

“Okay... Will that be cash or credit?” she asked, seriously confused and not a little pissed.

His throat moved as he swallowed. “I’m trying to say...you were right.”

“I usually am.”

He ignored her. “Blocking out something I love in case it leaves me isn’t possible. Not when loving is worth the risk of pain.”

A glimmer of something danced across her mind. It clutched in her belly, painful, raw. Hope. “You love Chuck?”

“I do.”

Her throat constricted but she forced the words out. “Only Chuck?”

He moved then, coming forward to clasp her arms. One tug and she was against him, her hands pressing into his hips as she fought for balance. A joke. She’d never found her balance again after that first night on the balcony.

Those intensely green eyes scanned her face as he confessed, “I never had a chance, Leah. I was a breath away from falling for you since the moment you first punched Laurence.”

She hiccupped a small laugh.

“I didn’t want to admit it. As if that would make it hurt less. So, I pushed you away like a fool. Like a dick,” he corrected, making her laugh again, stronger this time. “I was the weak one. Blaming it on your being a human, the obstacles we’d face, the chance I could lose you. I lost you anyway and it fucking gutted me. It made me realize I would sooner have one moment of life with you than years alone.” His hands tightened on her arms a fraction, as did all the muscles in his body. “I don’t know... I honestly don’t know how someone as bright and warm as you could love someone like me, but I’m willing to spend a lifetime learning how to make you smile.” He paused, and the edge of uncertainty just about killed her as he traced her face with his gaze. “Leah,” he said, voice unsteady. “I love you.”

Emotion burst inside her like fireworks, joy bubbling into laughter that wanted to spill out. “I love you, too,” she choked out. “I love you, Gabe. You’re everything I want. Everything. You’re generous and loving and just enough of a dick so you’re not perfect.” His rare dimple danced. “You make me happy. You make me feel chosen. Just like I will always choose you.” She watched the relief, the elation rise before she hauled him down to her, crushing her mouth to his.

When he broke the kiss, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

“It was worth the wait.” She breathed him in for several seconds before forcing herself to say it. To burst the bubble. “But are you sure? What about—?”

He shifted to kiss her, silencing the words. “The second part of my plan.”

“There’s a plan? What am I saying? Of course, there’s a plan.” Leah grinned up at him when he gave her an arch look. It helped mask the flicker of sudden fear. “So? Tell me.”

He squeezed once before he explained what had happened in the board meeting, his uncle’s PA’s betrayal and worse, the bomb he’d dropped.

The aftershock rippled through Leah as she dropped to the couch on weak legs. “They know.” She didn’t know what to feel. Except, “You could’ve denied it. It would’ve been the safer, sensible thing.”

“Please. I’m a rebel.”

It made her smile as she knew he knew it would. She reached up and drew him down to sit next to her, so close his knee pressed hers. She kept her grip on his hand. “The company...”

He stroked his thumb down her palm. “Melly and I talked. About a lot. Including how my parents might have loved us, but they loved each other and their cause more. Their name. Their legacy. And that sucks,” he said, using a word she’d never thought he’d say. “But being in that fire with you made me realize how far a person will go for someone they love. It doesn’t excuse my parents for abandoning us. But it means they were flawed. They weren’t perfect, and they shouldn’t have expected me to be. I have to start living my life for me. If that means I’m out of the company, so be it.”

“No, Gabe.” She shook her head, gripping his hand in denial. “It means everything.”

“You mean more,” he said simply. But even under the truth of that, his inner turmoil trembled through, enough that Leah inched closer, pressing her thigh against his.

“We won’t let it come to that,” she vowed.

He gave her a grateful look but didn’t comment.

For now, she moved on. “So, August gave you the choice.” She searched his face, nerves a lead ball in her stomach. “Does that mean you’re going to the High Family?”

“No.” He let go of her hand only to cup her face, his own grave. “We are. If you’ll be by my side.”

Knowing how scared he must be for her to face his worst fears made her fall a little more in love with him. If the High Family ruled against her, it would destroy him. All her life she’d feared rejection but this time, she welcomed the chance to face it. She wouldn’t be taken from this man so easily.

She leaned into his touch and put her heart into her answer. “Always.”

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