Page 127 of Zane

After a moment’s hesitation, Zane carried his purchases up the stairs and approached her door. Tucking the bouquet in the crook of his arm, he lifted his hand to knock lightly on the door.

It took a minute before Kelsey opened the door. She looked like she had just gotten out of bed, and her eyes looked a little puffy. Zane felt bad that he might have woken her.

Her eyes widened as she took in the items he held.

“Can I come in?” Zane asked.

Normally, he would never have asked to enter a woman’s room, but she was his wife, and they’d already been intimate with each other in a way he’d never been with another woman.

Her eyes widened even further as her gaze met his, then she nodded and stepped back, giving him room to step through the doorway. He gave a quick look around the room, noticing theunmade bed as he headed for the small sitting area by the bay window.

After setting the coffee and pastry bag down on the small round table, he turned to hand her the flowers. Only… she wasn’t there.

He noticed that the bathroom door was closed, so he sat down on the loveseat, leaving the other chair for her since it looked like that was her preferred seat. There was a blanket over the arm of the chair, and a notebook and a tablet were stacked on the edge of the table nearest the chair.

When he heard movement behind him, he turned to see Kelsey walking toward him. It looked like she’d brushed her hair, but she still wore the pair of leggings and oversized shirt she’d had on when she answered the door.

“How are you doing?” he asked, getting to his feet as she joined him at the chairs.

“I’m fine,” she said.

As they settled into their seats, Zane said, “Well, I’m not.”

Kelsey frowned at him. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that I hurt and upset you, and I feel horrible about it,” he told her. “I don’t like this awkwardness between us. I want us to work this out. If that’s what you want, too.”

Emotion flooded Kelsey’s face, and her eyes glistened with tears that didn’t remain unshed for long. “I want that too.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Zane knew then that he had to fight for this. Over the previous weeks, he’d come to see what had probably drawn his forgotten self to Kelsey. And there was no sense in denying what he felt for her while he waited for… something—he didn’t even know what—to happen.

Dropping to his knees in front of her, Zane reached out and took her hands in his. He gazed up at her, taking in the misery in her gaze.

“I want this,” Zane said, earnestly. “I want this marriage. I want to make things work between us. I want you, Kelsey.”

As he said the words, a tightness he hadn’t even known he carried suddenly loosened in his chest, and peace flooded him.

Tears fell unchecked down Kelsey’s cheeks as she clung to his hands. Zane wished with all his heart that he could remember everything he knew of her, but he had accepted that those memories were lost to him.

It was time to build new ones with this woman who had been a stranger not that long ago. But now, there was love in his heart for her. More love than he’d realized until that moment.

“I don’t know why I reacted the way I did at the basketball game,” Zane said. “But I’m sorry for how it hurt you. I want to put my ring back on, and I want to put your rings back on your finger too.”

“You do?”

He could see that she wasn’t convinced, and he couldn’t blame her for that.

“I do,” he said. “I really do. I’m not sure you’ll believe me yet, but I want you to know that I love you.”

Kelsey’s jaw went slack, and more tears slid down her cheeks. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say those words again. I’ve missed us so much.”

“I’m not the same man that you fell in love with,” he cautioned. “Are you willing to accept that I may never regain my memories?”

“So much of you is still the same,” she told him, lifting one hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “There are things I have some questions about. But I think, if you love me now, I’m happy to leave those things in the past.”

“And focus on the future?”

She nodded as she once again gripped his hands with both of hers. “And focus on our future.”

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