Page 157 of Breaking Away

“Kavi. We’re far past that. I could spend the rest of my life with you, inside you, and it wouldn’t be enough. You get me to smile.”

Her lips part. “You? Smile fully?”

“I’m getting there. But even my half-smile freaked out the team.”

That makes her laugh, and I feel it again. Like I’ve scored the game-winning goal.

“When?” she wonders.

“When you moved in, it made me so fucking happy. I actually didn’t believe I was smiling at first, but Hughes whipped out a mirror.” I run a hand through my hair. “I’m rusty… at the emotional stuff.”

Now there are tears in her eyes. “Dmitri.”

I pick up her hand and kiss her knuckles. “Kavi.”

“You’re shy.”

My head snaps up. “No one has ever called me shy before. They never see it?—”

“I care about you.” Her voice is wobbly. “But it’s not at all because of all the things you’ve done for me. You could take all of it away and I would still smile, so big, at the thought of cominghome to you. And I’m sorry if no one has ever taken care of you, but I care. So much. And I want to show you I care, over and over again, and you have to promise me you’ll not feel you have to give double or triple of it back to me. That you’ll accept and take my care because you are enough without ever having to prop up anybody else’s future or dreams or life again. Tell me. What are all your dreams? What makes you feel loved?”

“I want to know what makes you feel safe,” she continues. “That you know you can count on me. You matter. So much. I’m going to bake you cookies all the time if they make you happy. And I want to watch your favorite shows together not just mine?—”

I cut her off with a kiss.

She moans against my lips. “Wait—I haven’t said it back. That… I love you.”

I laugh, genuinely fully smiling for the first time. Is this real?She loves me?I lift her into my arms and spin her around, savoring the sound of her laughter.

“Again,” I demand. “Please. Say it again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I love you so much.”

“You’re mine.”

She laughs. “And you’re mine.”

“Say it again.”

She does, countlessly. And I say it back just as much because I want to give Kavi my words as much as my actions.

Kavi Basra is my everything.

She’s the one for me.

And I’m the one for her. The lucky grumpy bastard who gets to make her happy.

In the hockey rink that used to hold everything I thought I was capable of, I kiss the woman who taught me I can be more.

We spin and make promises to each other, saying words of love and care, taking this moment for ourselves, because the rest of the world can wait.

We’ve found each other.

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