Page 150 of Unexpected Forever
I lay a finger on her lips. “You’re my life now, Charlotte Reynolds. You’ve given me love I didn’t think I deserved, a family I thought I was too broken for, and a life that’s more than a series of long road trips and nine innings. Baseball is still going to be a part of my life. But in a smaller capacity.”
She frowns at me.
“Why are you frowning?”
“Nate, you can’t move here.”
I rear back. “Why not? I thought that’s what you wanted so we could be together.”
“Of course, I want to be with you. I love you. But you can’t move here because after this baby is born and I get the all clear, I’m moving to Cape Sands.”
Confusion whips through me. But one thing she said makes it through the fog. I blink once. Twice. “You love me?”
She smiles and lays her hands on my chest. My heart pounds under her touch. “Yes, I love you. Haven’t you been listening to me? By the way, I was scared too. I’m sorry I didn’t let you in. It just felt like if I loved you the way I wanted to, you’d leave me. I thought I could just let you go when you got too close.”
With a head shake and a smile, she moves her hands up and grips the lapels of my jacket, pulling me as close as her belly will allow. “But you aren’t so easy to shake, Nate Gentry. And I’d rather take the risk than be alone and wonder what if.”
I drop my forehead to hers, gripping her hips. “I left because you asked me to, Charley, but also because I thought you deserved better than the broken version of me. Leaving you was the last thing I wanted to do.”
“I want all versions of you, Nate. The broken, the put together, the baseball legend, the guy who likes rocky road ice cream. They all make up the man I fell in love with. And I’ll only be happy if you’re with me.”
She takes my face in her hands. “Also, I want you to know that I can handle the issues with the press. Don’t ever try to leave me thinking you’re protecting me from that.”
“I’m never leaving you, Firefly.”
“Good.”
Her grin sets me on fire and my heart swells.
I can’t wait any longer.
My lips crush to hers, and with a moan, she kisses me back with as much passion as she did the first time we kissed in this very spot.
A thought breaks through the haze. “Hold on. Did you say you’re moving to Cape Sands?”
Her smile lights up my insides. “Yep.”
“How?”
“I’ll get a moving truck and—”
I kiss her hard. “God, I’ve missed your sassy mouth.”
With a laugh, she wraps her arms around my waist and looks up at me, love shining in her blue depths. “Darcy offered me a job. She’s reorganizing the sales and marketing department and has a job for an event director.”
A warmth spreads through my heart. “And you accepted?”
“I did.” Her face grows serious. “I came to the same conclusion you did. That the best thing in my life was about to slip through my fingers. I was going to fight for us. But even if I’d lost you, our baby needs to be near his or her father. I would never take that opportunity away from you. No matter how we turned out.”
Just when I didn’t think I could love this woman any more, she proves me wrong.
I have a feeling she’ll be proving me wrong for the rest of my life.
“I love the fuck out of you, Charley.”
“I love you too, Nate. So much it scares me.”
“Wanna be scared together for the rest of our lives?”
