She backed away. “Um, yes. I did. I love a lot of people, though. And things. Like Peanut. Ireallylove Peanut.”
“Your cat.”
“My lovely cat. He’s also good now. He hasn’t been on the roof since...” Good grief. Not only was she an idiot, but she also sounded like one. A weird laugh escaped. “I’m a loving person, that’s all.”
“That’s true.” He inched closer.
“Forget what I said.” She stepped back.
“That you love me?” His tender smile went straight to her heart. “That’s not something a person easily forgets.”
Now what was she going to do?
Escape.“Shouldn’t we get back to the reception hall?”
“We will.” He closed the distance between them. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he said in a low, husky, insanely sexy tone.
She shivered, even though the temperature was in the seventies. Her heartbeat tripled. Might as well go all the way with the truth. “Because I know you don’t love me.”
He stilled, his eyes darkening. “I’m sorry.”
Game over. She should feel relieved, but instead she wanted to cry. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Monday morning she was calling a therapist, because she was convinced she was a loony bird. Holding back tears, she said, “It’s okay. You don’t have to apol—”
He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her. Not once, not twice, but so many times she lost count, and when he finally stopped, they had somehow ended up entangled in each other’s arms.
“I’m so stupid, Anita,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It took me so long to see what’s right in front of me.”
“What’s that?” Tears slipped from her eyes.
“You. I love you too. It took fighting with you, and then not having you in my life, to realize that.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I also realized that I put Sunshine ahead of everything else.”
“It’s important to you.”
“Not as much as you are to me. That’s why I want to help you. I know the café is important to you, and that makes it important to me.”
The last of the barrier around her heart came crumbling down. “But what about the customers? The competition?”
“Sunshine will survive. It has all these years. And competition isn’t bad.” He lightly ran his palm over her bare shoulder. “But cooperation is more fun.”
Oof. She was putty in his hands now.
He guided her over to the bench, and they sat down. “I’m sorry I waited so long,” he said.
“Three years isn’t bad.” Although it had seemed an eternity. Even now she wasn’t sure she wasn’t having one of her fairy-tale dreams.
“Ten years is, though.” At her questioning look, he added, “The kiss in my closet? That was ten years ago.”
“You were always good at math.” She leaned against him, pressing her cheek against his chest.
“But dumb as a post when it comes to love. I think I was a little in love with you back then, even. I was just too busy and had my priorities too upside down to realize it.”
“We can’t all be perfect.”
Tanner laughed and pressed a kiss on top of her head.She heard the thumping of his heart against her ear, and she closed her eyes. After all this time, her world was right.
“Where do we go from here?” he asked.
She lifted her head and smiled. “Wherever we want.”
