Page 131 of Tempting Promises
“For you.”
I’m not playing games. I’m not going to keep doing this dance with her. I’m here for her, and if she’ll let me, I’ll always be here for her.
“I knew that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
She moves toward me, placing the coffee on the stool as she passes it. “Because I don’t trust myself sometimes. I push people away and fight against what I want because I am so fucking tired of being hurt.”
The ache in her voice causes my chest to tighten. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“I know that more than anything else.”
She’s here for me.
She’s here because she finally knows that I fucking love her. We may not have said those words to each other, but words are just that.
I could tell her I love her, or I could tell her I hate her, but in the end, she sees the truth.
I’m here.
Right here.
Right now.
I’m standing in her garage, neglecting my own farm, doing everything humanly possible to be the man, the person, in her life whohas put her first.
We both move closer, but I never drop my eyes from hers.
No matter what I think the truth is, I want to hear it from her, that she’s done keeping me at an arm’s length. That she is ready to open herself up without my having to break the doors down. My voice is low, praying the answer isn’t the same as it’s been the last few times I’ve asked.
“Are you ready to let me in and help you?”
thirty-one
CHARLOTTE
Ihave never been more afraid and also eager to answer a question. I hoped it would come, and I’ve been ready to tell him how I feel, to give him my heart because he stole it from me weeks ago anyway.
Tears fill my vision, and I close the distance between us, my hand resting on his hard chest. “I need you. So, yes, you’re already my whole damn heart. You’re the only person I want or need.”
His eyes close, and he rests his forehead to mine. “Thank fucking God.” I smile through my tears as his arms wrap around me, pulling me to his chest. “I will do anything for you, Charlotte.”
“I know. I’m so sorry it took me a few days to believe it. I was just so scared that you’d think I wasn’t worth it. I never should have doubted you.” I pull back, needing to see him as I say what’s in my heart. “I love you, Rowan. I have never loved anyone like I do you and I was terrified. I needed time to sort it out and figure out how I live with having to lose you. I can’t. I can’t do it.”
“I wouldn’t let you.”
I sniffle a little and then let out a laugh. “You would bully me into getting your way.”
“I’d buy your farm. I’d buy all of Sugarloaf if it meant you would stay with me.”
“This is crazy, you know that?” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. “We didn’t even like each other.”
He smiles at the echo of words we’ve used so many times. “I like you now. No, that’s a lie. I love you. I love your crazy, ridiculous, maddening ass so much that I took apart a tractor and now have to pay Donny to fix it.”
I duck my head, fighting back a laugh. “I wanted to come to you days ago.”
“Yeah?”
