Page 126 of That One Heartbreak

“Are you going to kiss me now?” she asked him.

“Just working up to it.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “This one means something. A lot of something.”

“What does it mean?” she asked.

“It means I’m here, Kate. I’m in this thing. We’re in it together. It’s serious. You know that, right? I’m serious about you.”

Her heart did a little loop the loop. “I’m serious about you, too.”

“Thank God.” He cupped her face with his palm, moving his own face closer, until she could feel the warmth of his breath against her skin. She was holding her own, the anticipation of his mouth making her body start to tingle.

And when his lips met hers, they started a fire inside her skin. Everything about his kiss was heated. The way he angled her head, the way he plundered her mouth, the way his tongue felt like it was making love to hers.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back, loving the taste of him. How had they almost thrown this away? Not kissing Marley Hartson would have been a stupid waste of the rest of her life.

“Mommy?” a little voice called out from the upstairs window. “Are you two kissing?”

She started to laugh, because if he hadn’t realized before how intrusive kids could be in a relationship, he sure as hell was about to find out.

“We’re just talking very close to each other’s faces,” Kate called back to Addy. “Now go back to sleep.”

“Okay,” Addy said, closing the window.

Marley was grinning at her. “I’m guessing sex is out for the next fifteen years.”

“You’re going to have to get used to climbing up my drain pipe,” she told him.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you,” he said, suddenly serious. “But eventually, when the time is right, I want us to be together. A couple. Married. A family. You know that, right?”

“I want that too.”

His smile was big. “Good.” He kissed her again. A soft one, but so, so sure. “I love you, Kate Connelly.”

Her warm eyes met his. “I love you right back.”

Epilogue

“Mommy!”Addy called from the backyard. “You can come out now.”

Kate’s lips twitched. How many times had she heard those words this summer? The long, balmy days were drawing to an end – school was back in session next week – and she felt a little pang in her heart.

Despite starting out as the worst summer ever, it had quickly morphed into the best. After their heartfelt talk, she and Marley had agreed to start their relationship again. The following week, with James at home, they’d told Addy and Ethan that they were dating.

Not that Ethan and Addy had blinked an eyelid. As far as they were both concerned, Marley was their best friend as well as Kate’s new suitor. And the three of them – or four once James was back – were thick as thieves, plotting ways to ‘woo’ Kate.

She was now the proud owner of a fountain creatively made from old metal tire rims that Marley had found and painstakingly shaped into flowers with Addy, while Ethan and James concentrated on the plumbing. There was also a ‘remembering tree’, as Addy called it. This one was made fromrusted metal struts, and as big as a real tree, with fronds that cascaded down like a weeping willow. It was where the kids could go when they were sad about Paul. Not that she’d seen any of them under there recently.

More and more there were smiles on their faces when they talked about their dad, or when Marley regaled them with a story about him.

But this last project was a secret. Whatever it was, they’d been carrying it in and out of the garage each night so she couldn’t sneak a peek.

They didn’t trust her, and she got that. Because she totally would have snuck out to see what they were doing if given the chance.

“Okay, I’m coming,” she called out.

“She’s coming,” Addy shouted.

“Yeah, we heard her.” James’ low voice sounded amused.

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