Page 162 of Trying Sophie

Declan’s eyes flashed with surprise and then hope. His Adam’s apple bobbed just before he croaked, “What?” He cleared his throat. “Did you say …”

I studied him for a couple of seconds before confirming he’d heard correctly. In a flash I saw how he’d age, the man he’d become as the years passed, and knew there was nothing anyone could say or do that would keep me from experiencing those years with him, prevent me from living my life by his side.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I assured him. “I’m staying.”

“You’re staying?”

His eyes shone with relief and … something more. Something jubilant and profound.

I nodded and swallowed around the lump in my throat, as I tried to keep my tears at bay. “I love you Declan,” I whispered. “I love you so damn much I can’t imagine ever walking away from you,” I choked out on a ragged breath.

Placing his rough, calloused palms on my face, Declan held me tenderly and then stroked an errant tear from my cheek.

“Don’t cry baby,” he uttered quietly, moving in for a soft, worshipful kiss that lasted several long seconds. Eventually pulling back, his eyes caught mine and his lips raised in a shy, joyful smile. “I love you too Soph. I’m less than half a man when I’m not with you.”

He kissed me again, taking it deeper, our tongues mating. When we finally broke apart, he grinned. “It might’ve taken me 18 years to say it, but now that I have, you’re never going to hear the end of it. I’ve loved you since I was eight years old Sophie Newport and I’m going to love you until the day I die.”

Declan bent down and, placing his arm under my knees, scooped me up against him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and as he carried me up the stairs, he kissed me breathless.

When he undressed me, his eyes devoured every inch of my skin, and he told me how much he loved me. When he laid me down on his bed and covered my naked body with his, he told me again how much he loved me. When he slid into me and rolled his hips against mine, he told me how much he loved me. When he made me come three times, each with a soul-shattering intensity I didn’t think I’d ever recover from, he told me how much he loved me. And when he came, groaning my name as he emptied himself inside of me, he promised to love me forever.

I promised him the same.

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