Page 78 of Accidentally Sliding Into A Second Chance

“I felt it too,” Cat utters so softly that if I hadn’t seen her mouth move I’m not sure I would’ve heard it.

“You felt jealous of Logan, too?” I huff out, trying to keep my expression schooled.

“Yes.” She rolls her eyes. “I mean he is ridiculously easy on the eyes—”

“Cat,” I grumble, narrowing my eyes.

Her eyes sparkle, and she chuckles. “Wow. So you can dish it out but you can’t take it.”

“Can I keep—”

“Confessing all the ways you love me and how you have a jealous streak?” She grins mischievously. “Yes please.”

A grin breaks free and I let my eyes roam over her features. My chest expands and I’m not sure my ribcage will be able to hold in all of the feelings coming up, but then a slow smile creeps along my face because I don’t need to hide how I feel.

“So like I said before, falling in love with you was the easiest and hardest thing I’ve ever done.” This time her brow doesn’t furrow and there isn’t any confusion reflected in her gaze. The only thing reflected back at me is an affection that pulls me in. “Can I tell you something crazy?”

A gleam laces her gaze. “Only if you promise to tell me all the crazy things from this day forward.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “Done.”

She nods, and beams, then pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. I cup her cheek and pull her in for a kiss. She easily comes into me and a lopsided grin forms as I let my lips linger.

When we’re both slightly breathless, she utters. “That’s your idea of crazy?” Then she presses smiling lips gently to mine. “I’ll take that whenever you want to dish it out. Please.”

“What if I told you that I felt like this entire thing,” I motion between the two of us, “was somehow arranged?”

Her head tilts and her eyes narrow, curiosity written across her features. “What do you mean?”

“Aunt Dottie and the marriage contingency. Me adopting Emmy. You working for the Smokies…”

I watch her eyes flash as she mulls over the possibilities. “Are you saying that this, us, is fate?”

I cradle her face and grin. “Or a very elaborate setup by two very amazing women.”

She chews her bottom lip and I keep going.

“I don’t know that I can explain this in any other way, so I hope it makes sense. You were always perfect for me Cat, but then you left. I was heartbroken, and then Fiona came. I had a life with her, a daughter. And then she left.”

“And I came back.” Cat’s eyes shine with unshed tears, her voice filled with wonder.

“And you came back.” Chills run down my spine as the words leave my mouth.

A tear slips down her cheek, and I gently wipe it away. We sit in silence as I give Cat time to consider the possibility of what I already know to be true in my heart.

Her face and eyes are so expressive as she ponders what I just said, and before long a spark lights her eyes, making my heart stutter.

When she lifts her hand to cradle my face, my breath hitches at her touch.

“I was already in love with Emmy when I found her torturing you and Scarlett.” My cheeks pull up as I think about Emmy in that open field.

“I immediately fell in love with Scarlett. But you…” She pins me with her gaze, and my heart pounds like a base drum. “You, I never stopped loving.”

My grin grows impossibly bigger and my insides are about to burst, and then she whispers. “You are my home.”

I gasp, my heart overflowing and warmth erupts around my chest. My gaze drills into hers but the love I see shining back at me never waivers.

A part of me, deep inside that I didn’t know was restless, settles. A knowing, a truth, my soul meeting my mate. The back of my eyes burn and she lifts a thumb to my cheek and wipes a tear.

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