Page 120 of Deep In Love
“You are a wonderful man,” she says, banishing a tear that falls. “Charming. Kind. Supportive. You make me feel seen and understood, and these last three weeks with you have been the best of my life. I am wonderfully lucky to call you mine.”
Tears stream down both our cheeks. I never expected to cry, but hearing her words, feeling her touch on my skin…it’s all too overwhelming.
I reach out to hold her, but she steps back.
“I have more I want to say.” My heart skips a few beats at her radiance. “Being with you has made me a better person. Someone I’m proud to look at in the mirror. I’m not perfect. I’m messy and competitive, and I’m still learning to appreciate who I am, but I want to experience life with you. I want the ups and downs. I want to wake up with your CPAP hose plastered to my back and spend quiet mornings drinking coffee together.
“It’s crazy, but I’ve never been so sure about something in my life. I’m in love with you. Amy once told me that falling in love is an act of blind faith. But you made it so easy to fall, because I knewyou would be there to catch me. I could spend the next forty years as a scientist, but you will always be my greatest discovery. My most important find. Mypurpose.”
I’ve never been overwhelmed to the point of tears, but if anyone could manage the feat, it would be my Charlie.
She squishes my face. “These are happy tears, right?”
I’m staring at her like an idiot, but what the fuck?
That was the most beautiful declaration of love I’ve ever heard—it brought me to tears, for fuck’s sake—and now I’m expected to top it?
My “I love you” is going to sound super freaking lame compared to her “you’re my greatest discovery.”
She’s not the only competitive one in this relationship, and the only reason I was letting her say it first was because I planned to stun her with my words of love and adoration.
Now I’m the chump who has to follow up her heartfelt, authentic admission.
How the hell am I supposed to make her feel as loved as I do right now?
Chapter 34
Charlie
Oh, Neptune.
I did it.
I told Mateo I love him.
And he’s yet to say a single word.
If he wasn’t clutching on to me like I’m the most precious thing in the world, I would feel sick to my stomach, but his gentle touch is settling any fear in taking the leap of faith.
Perched on his lap, I run my fingers through his hair. The cool sea breeze sends goose bumps along my flesh, and I burrow deeper into his chest, savoring his warmth.
Now would be a good time for him to say something. I’m pretty sure he loves me—I can feel it in my chest when he looks at me—but I’d like to hear the words, revel in the way they wash over my skin like a balm, healing everything I thought was once broken.
“You can speak now,” I whisper, in case he thinks I have more to say.
I’ve said all I can right now. Maybe more will come to mind later, but it took me two hours to put together the small confession. I’mnot a great speaker, and I am even worse at expressing emotions in a logical manner, so I’m tapped out.
His mouth opens, then closes, and his grip on my sundress tightens.
“I’ve spent the last two years falling in love with you,” he says in a thick voice. “Only I didn’t realize the depth of what I feel for you until you gave me the final piece. Like you amass trinkets, I’ve been collecting the small pieces of yourself you offer. An addiction to chocolate. An obsession with crystals and Charles Darwin. A brilliant mind and an even sharper tongue. The queen of trivia and proud owner of an alien dildo.”
“It’s a normal penis,” I grumble.
His laughter strikes my solar plexus. “But when you let me see behind the wall—trusted me with your fears and worries—that’s when I knew I was a goner.” My hands shake from his confession, reality setting in. “Te amo,bruja.I love you. Deeply. Unconditionally. It transcends logic or reason, time and space. There is no fear you could show me, or insecurity you could whisper, that would change how I feel.”
The smile on his face shines like moonlight against the water, and my heart is so full it could burst out of my chest. I pour every emotion I couldn’t quite place or put words to into a gentle kiss. The sundress I borrowed from Sofía billows as I shift on his lap, straddling his hips to deepen the connection.
“I love you. I love you. I love you.” I chant the declaration—full of promise and hope—until my voice is hoarse and he’s cutting me off with another kiss.
