“Demi had a hunch and I went with it.” He takes my hand to his lips and presses a careful kiss over the back, his glacial blue eyes never leaving mine.
But Abel is here, repairing the damage that was done by way of that determined gaze, that heartfelt ache pouring straight from his soul to mine.
“I love you, Zoey.” The words string from his lips simply enough, like a fact, like a feeling that emitted from the depths of his being. “And I regret not saying it sooner. I regret a lot of things, and I hope you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me for them all.”
A breath hitches in my throat. Abel loves me. A heated rush radiates from my chest, down my limbs, until my fingers and toes tingle with exhilaration.
“I forgive you,” I whisper, and he closes his eyes as if it were a hard-won victory. “Will you forgive me?”
He shakes his head. “You did what anyone would have done last night. You took off for safer ground. Believe me, I wanted to join you. In fact, I was right behind you until your brother tackled me to the ground as if a high school football game broke out.”
“He did, huh?” I pull him in by the back of the neck, my playful demeanor quickly dissipating. “Before we move on, there is something you should know about me. Many things.” I wince. “The day I headed back to Loveless was the day my husband filed for divorce.” I give a little shrug. “I guess we’re the yin to one another’s yang.” And then I segue into my own story. I tell him about my brief, unpalatable marriage to Holder, about our baby—Jamie, the way I held him in my arms, the way they took him from me, no burial, no ashes, nothing at all. I tell him about Arlene, my husband’s whore, and his cheek flinches when I say it. I tell him about their wedding that took place just over twenty-four hours ago.
“Shit.” Abel lands his forehead softly over mine, tears rolling down his beautiful face just for me. “Zoey.” He leans back and brushes my face clean with his thumbs. “I’m sorry. All of it—it kills me. I can’t put into words the grief I feel for you right now.” His lips twitch as he struggles to hold it together.
I give a gentle nod, our eyes locking in that magnetic way they’re prone to. You can’t deny electricity like Abel and I share. It was something I never had with Holder. I don’t think we ever could have.
“I have something that might make the two of us feel a little better.” A naughty grin percolates on my lips as I lead him to the bed. I pull Abel in next to me on the overgrown downy pillow and fall backward as if plunging into the waiting arms of a swimming pool.
“My God,” he groans as he wraps an arm around my waist. “This is nice.” He warms me with his body. “But being near you again is heaven.”
“I love you, Abel McCarthy.” Tears come, this time of joy. There. I’ve said it. Issued his heart a warning. “I’m on fire for you. I want nothing more than to spend my days with you.” My chest rises with a hiccup.
A gentle laugh trembles from him. “You really love me?”
“Yes, I really love you.” I pull the pillow out from behind me and swat him. “You’re the man I was hoping to find all along. Who knew I would find you in the last place I’d look—home. And that is what you became to me. I meant it when I said it. You’re my home, Abel.”
“I meant that, too.” He doesn’t hesitate with the words, his gaze bearing hard over mine. “You are my home, Zoey. Anywhere with you feels like the exact place I belong.” His lips brush over mine, his lids still closed as he pulls back. “I’m moving to Loveless indefinitely. Who knows? Maybe I’ll commute to the office with my brother.”
A laugh gets caught in my throat. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life, Abel, but I know that I can’t be very far from you while doing it.” I pull my phone out and settle it between us. “I was just about to make a purchase for the happy couple. I’m curious to see if you’ll try to talk me out of it.” I pull up my virtual shopping cart and watch as his lips twist while he examines my selection, the ball gag, the strap-on.
“That’s all you got?” He takes the phone from me and does a little scrolling. “How about throwing in something like this?” He holds the screen up, revealing matching his and hers boob slippers with obnoxiously large nipples that span the front of them.
“I don’t know how I missed those. I’d hate for them to have to pad around their brand new home in socks. Thank you.” I add two pairs to the cart and complete my purchase. “The bride has assured her loyal shoppers that all gifts will be delivered straight to their door. I’m sure they’ll enjoy these soon enough. Their honeymoon is postponed until December. The professor must earn his keep.”
“I’m sure they’ll appreciate all the thought behind it.” He pulls me in close, chest to chest, a dark laugh rumbling from the two of us. “Zoey, I’m not a fan of the circumstances that threw us together, but I am damn grateful for them.”
“Same.” My lips float over his face, his prickly scruff, his forehead, those trembling lids of his. “Great news. We’ve got the room for the night. Have any ideas of what we might do with it?”
His grin expands, his hands traveling down to my thighs as he straps me around his body like a seat belt. “I can think of a few things that will keep us busy.”
Abel rolls on top of me, full weight, and it feels like bliss to feel his body bearing down over mine. He springs up on his elbows, dotting me with a kiss in the process. He takes a moment to run those lucent eyes over my face, searching, examining me.
“What?”
“Nothing.” His brows pinch in, proving the point that it is very much something. “I just wanted to remember this moment. The exact juncture in my life that I knew I would never leave you, deceive you, hold you at bay another second. The moment I realized you’re the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
My mouth falls open with wonder. I run my fingers through his glossy thick hair. “I guess that means there’s a proposal coming somewhere down the line. I, for one, cannot wait to see you on bended knee.”
A wicked gleam ignites those blue eyes. “Keep an eye out. It might be sooner than you think.” He pulls my ring finger over and kisses it just below the knuckle. “Now that you’ve had a preview of the question—how about a preview of that answer?”
A laugh bubbles from me that floats right up to the ceiling. “Now this is one pop quiz I know I’ll pass.” I curl my finger under his chin, and he settles those powerful lenses he sees the world through on me. “One word. Yes. Every day of the week it will be the same. Yes, yes, and yes. I don’t need a fancy ring, and I don’t need to see you dropping to the ground. Take my answer now and accept it. I want to be your forever, Abel.”
“You already are.” His lips crash over mine, heated and wanting as Abel and I start in on a delicious kiss that blesses our future before we ever set foot back in Loveless together. Abel wants to make me his wife, his life, and I am more than happy to oblige. There isn’t one day I want to spend apart from him on this planet. I need this man in my arms, in my bed, night after delicious night.
I tuck my lips to his ears as my body wedges in close to his. “So does this make us official?”
“This makes us very official.” He takes a gentle bite from my neck. “In fact, I think it’s time we properly introduce ourselves to Loveless’ not-so high society.”
“Oh yeah?” I pull back to get a better look at this gorgeous man. “How do you propose we do that?”
“We throw a party and invite all our friends. I’m buying the food and booze. You think they’ll show up?”
“Are you kidding? You’ll have them at free food. And free booze? They may never leave.”
Abel and I leash our mouths together. Our limbs fasten over one another’s bodies as if we were readying to rocket to the moon, and we do just that.
Abel makes love to me as if he just came back from combat, as if it were our last night on earth, our first night together, all of the above rolled into one.
I thought life ended the night my parents died. I thought my soul left my body the night my son was ripped from my womb. I thought I ceased to exist when I thought that Abel had used me in the most horrendous sense. But tonight, with each of his careful kisses, I see that my life didn’t end when my mother and father died. I was left to live and love. My soul didn’t vacate the premises when they took my sweet son from me. My existence does not center on any man or his truths. I am enough in and of myself, and I am worthy to be loved. I am so very blessed to be loved by Abel McCarthy. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Abel makes me feel that way. And I believe it. He makes even the impossible possible.
