Page 122 of Blindly Yours

She drops her eyes and runs her thumb across my knuckles. “I feel something in your world… Maybe it’s the peace and quiet,” she purses her lips and lifts a shoulder, “or maybe it’s the forbidden aspect of it; defying my parents.”

“Do you think you want to defy your parents more than anything else?” I ask carefully.

She shakes her head, still not looking at me. “Maybe it was exciting at the start. But now I just feel…safe with you. And it’s the best feeling in the world.” She takes a long, deep breath. “My favorite days are the ones I get to spend with you.”

I smile softly. “Even if it means you’re going to be helping me and Rod run a catering event for two hundred people?”

She looks up at me quickly and wipes her eyes again. “He got the call? He’s gonna do it?”

“He’s thrilled,” I confirm. Rod called me this morning to tell me he’d landed the event,andthat Rose had been the catalyst. “They’re going to pay hima lot. The proceeds, along with his loan, will help him stay afloat long enough to develop a real marketing strategy, plus it’ll introduce so many more new faces to his business.”

Rose lets out a relieved breath and pulls my jacket tighter around her shoulders. “I’m so glad…”

“Thank you, really, for doing that.” I beam at her. “No one asked you to.”

She shrugs. “I loveNelson’s,and Rod seems like a great guy. I can’t bear to see him go under. The place is so…warm and friendly. And I know it’s your favorite.”

I take hold of her hand. “It means the world to him, and to me.”

She takes a deep breath and her eyes find mine, full of sincerity. “I need to apologize. I shouldn’t have gotten in the car with Malcolm again. I knew it was dangerous, but I wasn’t thinking about how much it might scare you…because of what happened…with Amber.”

The loose curls that have escaped her hair clip blow gently in the cool evening breeze and I smile. My heart breaks and swells at the same time. Ilovethis woman. I love her with every ounce of me, and she’s sitting here acknowledging my greatest fear—losing her. She’s apologizing for resurfacing the trauma even though I’ve never truly told her how deeply it still affects me. She gets it, and she gets me, and I’m never going to let her go.

I hook my finger under her chin and tilt her face up to mine. My chest tightens at the thought of losing her. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you,” I say as her blue eyes gaze softly into mine. “You’ve healed me in ways I wasn’t prepared for. You’reperfect.And…” I take a breath. “I love you.”

A thousand weights lift from my shoulders as I finally say those three words. My heart, which has been sealed so tightly for the last two years, finally comes crashing open.

Relief washes over Rose’s face and she raises her hand to place it over my heart with a smile. “I love you too.”

Without a beat, I slide my hand through her hair and pull her into me, pressing my lips firmly into hers. There’s no doubt in my mind that this was meant to be. The pain in my past has led me to this girl. She’s surprised me around each and every corner, and she’s exactly what I’ve needed. I think she’s always been part of my story, before I could even fathom the plot twist that would be written into my life. She’sthe one. And it’s terrifying to be vulnerable like this again, but nothing could make me turn back now.

She breaks our kiss with a smirk. “You’re the sweetest grump I’ve ever met.”

I let out a laugh. “I’ll take that as a…compliment?”

“As intended.” She straightens the collar of my shirt.

I tuck her hair behind her ear and regard her with a new seriousness. “I really am sorry for leaving you hanging this weekend. That was an awful move on my part.”

With a frown, she focuses on the top button. “Yeah, that really hurt.”

I wince a little. I feel horrible.

“I’ve always taken you to be this guy who’s a pro at relationships,” she continues, “you know, because you’ve been through it…and had success. But it was so hard to watch you walk away yesterday. I never had the chance to fully explain, and…I felt helpless.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and lean in to kiss her forehead. “I’m so sorry. I’m not a pro at this by any means. Please don’t expect that,” I half-chuckle as I pull back. “We’re figuring this out together. We’ll both make mistakes, but I can promise you this won’t happen again.”

“Thank you.” She straightens my tie. “You look unbelievable, by the way. Where’d you get the tux?”

“Honestly?” I laugh. “It’s rented. I just picked the most expensive one and figured it would pass.”

Rose pulls my jacket from her shoulders and inspects the tag. “Peter Millar.” She nods approvingly. “Not bad.” Then she lifts her eyes to the window again and sighs. “I don’t want to go back in.”

I take her hand as my gaze slides down to her form-fitting black dress. I’m dying to slide my hands across those hips. “Well, I, for one, was hoping for a dance.”

She raises a brow. “Youdance?”

I exhale. “No.”

---