Page 53 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

She tucked her chin and bit her trembling lips into a line, blinking wet lashes.

“Actionsarereal,” he noted. “The things you do for me... I don’t need a business partner for a wife. I needyou. By my side.Takingmy side. You keep me grounded and give me someone to come home to. You make every one of my houses feel like a home. If you’re not here, then I guess I’m moving to Goderich, because my home is wherever you are. I need you in my life. I need you to keep me from being a distrustful jerk and to help me see the good in this world. Youarethe good in this world. You’re the good inmyworld.”

The tears brimming her lashes began to trickle down her cheeks, but she managed to sniff, “And Peyton.”

“She wouldn’t be here without you, would she?”

She released a shaky chuckle. “I’m starting to think you really do love me.”

“I’m starting to think so, too,” he said humbly. Contritely. “I think I love you more than either of us realize.”

He waited for the cavernous vulnerability to hit him, but saying those words didn’t make him feel defenseless. They filled him with something strong and certain and right. Like lifeblood. Like air. Necessary and energizing.

He had been so afraid of what she would take from him if he let himself fall for her. Instead, he wanted to give her everything. Not in a foolish way. Not as an infantile means of keeping her, but because he wanted her to know what she meant to him. Because he wanted her to thrive so she could be with him always.

He walked across and knelt before her, cupping her cheeks.

“I love you,” he said, feeling the words vibrate from the depths of his chest, radiating outward to his fingertips and toes. The only way it broke anything inside him was to crack the wall around his heart. Rather than feeling unguarded, he feltfree.

“I love you, too.” Her mouth trembled. “So much.”

He stood and drew her up with him, closing his arms around her, needing as much of her touching him as possible. He needed the taste of her unsteady lips against his. The dampness of her tears against his cheek and the press of her heartbeat to his chest.

Her thumb swept across his clenched eye. There was dampness there, and he only held her closer, unashamed by how much of his love was seeping out of him to land on her.

“I thought I would lose you,” he confessed. “I didn’t know how I would bear it.”

“I’m here. I will be. Always.”

“Same. Always.”

They kept making promises between kisses, slowly making their way up the stairs to their room. To their bed.

And when they made love, it was pure love, each caress and kiss a vow. It was a celebration of their bodies and their soul-deep connection.

When the shimmering clench of climax began to grip them, she traced his ear and said with a pang of doubt, “You’re still waiting for me.”

“Because I’m a gentleman, love.”

Which made her laugh. She twisted and he was lost to the throes of climax, groaning and thrusting, dragging her with him into the delirious storm.

EPILOGUE

Two days later

HUNTERARRIVEDINGoderich as they were sitting down to dinner. Amelia hurried to rise and meet him at the door even though they’d only been apart the one night. She had wanted a little more time with her father after the upheaval of Jasper’s return, so she had driven home with him yesterday.

She had also been anxious to vet her father’s sweetheart. Mo’s sister, Ola, was an absolute doll. Amelia would worry about him a lot less when she returned to Vancouver, knowing the pair were keeping each other company.

“Hey.” Hunter greeted her with an intimate smile and a warm tone and a lingering kiss that curled her toes against the welcome mat. “Traffic getting out of the city was a nightmare or I would have made better time.”

“It’s okay. Supper’s almost on the table, so this is perfect.”

“You must be Ola,” he said as he greeted the woman with gray hair and a tender touch as she cradled Peyton. “Tobias.” He nodded at her father, then touched his daughter’s hair. “Hello, bean sprout. I missed you.”

Peyton picked up her head, but her eyes were still heavy from her recent nap.

It was a pleasant meal with plenty of chatter as Amelia and Ola continued getting to know each other, but Amelia noticed Hunter wasn’t saying much.

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