Page 37 of Harboring Secrets
“Do I still need to feel guilty?” My voice was barely above a whisper. “I will grovel for a thousand years if that’s what it takes, but I assumed earlier that we were moving past that.” I took a deep breath. “Was I wrong?”
He shook his head. “You weren’t wrong. I don’t want every moment we spend together to be tainted by that. I’ve forgiven you, Liam, but forgetting is harder.”
I rounded the island and Brodie practically fell into my arms. He held me around my waist and buried his face in my shoulder. Kissing his hair, smoothing my hands down his back, I let him have a moment to collect himself.
“I can’t change what I did, but I can promise to not do it again. I won’t ever leave you behind again.” There were more things I wanted to say, but my words were trapped behind my teeth. Brodie was my whole heart and I needed to tell him that. But a punch of melancholy hit me in the sternum. The last person I’d loved was Piper, and she’d been taken from me. I wasn’t superstitious enough to think that I had some kind ofPractical Magiccurse, but a sudden torrent of what-ifs hit me.
What if I lose him too? What if I tell him how I feel and he gets sick? What if I am cursed? What if he’s struck by lightning and I never told him how I feel?
That last question stopped me dead. I couldn’t breathe through the fear that skittered down my spine. I pulled back so I could look at him and words came tumbling out like a dam had burst.
“I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should have chased you down. There are a million ways I could have handled things and I chose the worst possible one. And I won’t make excuses for it. I will never stop being sorry, Brodie.”
His cheek was warm in the palm of my hand. I wondered if he could feel the way I trembled or see my heart cracking open as I poured every bit of affection I felt for him into my words. “You’ve forgiven me, and I can’t tell you how badly I want to deserve that. I’m not sure I do, but I am sure about how I feel about you.”
“Liam—”
I put my hand over his mouth and saw the crinkle of amusement in his eyes. I felt the smile on my skin.
“Brodie, I love you. I love you so much it terrifies me. I think I’ve loved you from that first day. From the moment I saw you laughing, drenched head to toe, towel drying your hair in the lobby of a hotel.” I pulled my hand away from his mouth. “Everything I do from here on out is because I love you. Because I should have told you a long time ago. Because I want to be a man who deserves you.”
“You love me?” Brodie’s voice was thin and it quivered a little.
“More than life.” I cocked a smile at him. “I stalked you and followed you halfway around the world, didn’t I?”
“The tulips were a bit much.” Brodie gravitated toward me, the gap between us grew even smaller.
“They weren’t nearly enough. I can’t change that I hurt you, but I can swear that I will never leave you behind again. I won’t ever let you walk away from me, Brodie.”
“Red flag,” Brodie said, brushing a kiss against my lips. “But lucky for you, I love you, red flags and all.”
Our gazes held and I could almost see our love for each other float between us like dust motes in a sunbeam.
“I know I just confessed my love, but I’m about to disappoint you and I hope you can forgive me.” Before Brodie’s happy expression could fall too far, I smiled at him. “Your kitchen is too ill-equipped for me to make us anything suitable for dinner.”
Brodie rolled his eyes. “Lucky for me, my boyfriend is taking me shopping tomorrow.”
“He sounds like a generous man.”
Brodie shrugged. “He’ll do.” After a beat, he caught my mouth with his. The kiss was soft at first, not tentative or shy, but tender. With gentle ease, he licked his way inside my mouth. Everything about the kiss was soft. The way he held me around the waist and the way his tongue danced with mine. It wasn’t greedy or insistent, but it was still powerful. My knees turned to jelly and I threatened to crumple down to a heap at Brodie’s feet. It would be a suitable place to be to worship him, I thought.
We kissed until we were both wound up and wired from it. Our cocks were impossibly hard, but we didn’t do more than press up against each other and bask in the proximity.
Brodie was the first to pull away. “I’ll order something for dinner and you can cook for me tomorrow.” Brodie went in search of his phone and, once he found it, he placed a call for pizza and two kinds of wings. When he hung up, he put his phone on the counter and looked at me.
“What?”
“When I said I wanted you to stay… I think you should check out of your hotel and stay here. With me.” His expression was equal parts hope and fear and I hated that he looked at me with even an ounce of trepidation.
“I’d like that.”
The fear melted out of Brodie’s expression, replaced by warmth and joy.
“I’d like that a lot.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t know what my future looks like right now, but I know I want you in it.”
Brodie crossed the space between us and looped his arms around me. Lips brushed against mine and I felt the smile on them.
“That’s enough for me.”
