“Somewhere in the middle?” I asked, and he drew his head up. “If starting over isn’t an option, then we start in the middle?”
The crooked grin he gave me swept the rubble from the furthest recesses of my heart. “Does that involve kissing and touching?”
A laugh fled me, and my smile took me back to a time before the damage. When I’d smiled often, laughed regularly, and loved freely. “Yes, and some.”
His brow lifted. “Some?”
My smile widened. “Some…for now.”
Emotion splashed through his hazel eyes. “I have a lot of groveling to do first.”
“Not a lot, but a little would be good.”
“I can do that. Any other requirements?”
“No, but can you kiss me now?”
Amber irises searched mine, an expression of wonder settling over them as if he didn’t quite believe this was real.
“That I can do.” His fingers stretched into my hair, and he brought my face closer to his. My chest thudded, and the past became a nightmare I was waking from as his lips softly brushed mine. The world tilted back into place, and rightness returned, the hollow void suddenly flooded so that it was overflowing. This was what I’d missed, the way he completed me. Resting my hand on his chest, I leaned into the kiss, parting my lips and giving him more access.
His wallet fell when he wrapped his hand around my waist to pull me nearer. A clinking sound had me stopping us. My eyes fell to the floor, seeing the ring that had rolled free with the impact. A glance back at him told me it was okay, and as he released me, I bent to pick it up.
My engagement ring. For a moment I thought he had intended to move faster, and doubt entered, but when I picked up the wallet, I saw the worn spot, the leather rubbed raw with the indent from the ring.
“I can’t tell you how many wallets I’ve gone through in the past five years.”
I peered up at him, seeing him palm his neck in that bashful way that had always caused my stomach to somersault. He had carried my ring with him, just like the flower, and the thought had tears prickling behind my eyes again. I tucked the flower back into it and rose. Our gazes locked, and that sensation of being home returned.
Gabe had been my center for months, grounding me and leaving his mark in that short time, and being here with him reminded me of why I’d never gotten over him. This man was like water to a dying plant, a fire on a winter day, an icy glass of lemonade on a summer day, the breeze in the stillness. And I hadn’t lived since the day he left.
I threw my arms around him, the ring still on the top of my index finger. Our lips crashed in a heated kiss that restored every wounded crevice in me and woke the places that had been asleep. His hold on me was powerful, and I knew then that he would never let me go again, and I would never let him.
Chapter 27
Gabe
Tori was in my arms, her body curled into mine, her hair smoothing with the strokes of my fingers. I still expected to wake from a dream and find myself back in the nightmare, but the longer this continued, the more certain I became that this was real. Kissing her again had lifted the cages I’d built to hold myself together, freeing the man she brought out in me. I’d reveled in that kiss, soaking in the bliss of it until she drew away, her lips a gorgeous shade of red.
After she insisted I show her around the house, I’d given her a tour, sharing only the pleasant memories. Nothing remained but furniture, yet the ghosts of my past were there. I hadn’t lied to her. I’d bought the house from my father with every intention of leaving it empty until the day I brought my father down and could find her again. At the time, it had seemed an impossibility, a reckless dream, but now the thought of her and Reid filling it with new memories no longer seemed like a dream.
Grabbing a blanket from under the sheet covering the couch, I had led Tori onto the deck. Hours of talking, of hearing everything I had missed—all of Reid’s firsts, birthdays, holidays, lost teeth, and bruises—left me yearning to go back and experience them. And I promised myself I would never missanother first. If it took me years to win Tori back completely, I would do it.
“I promise,” I said, kissing her head. “I’ll be at every first. Reid will never again question where his father is, and you’ll never be without me. I will be by your side, Tori. No matter what comes our way.”
She peeked up at me, her eyes glossy, and I leaned down and kissed her. We had stretched out on the wide lounger, a fire blazing in the fire pit. The waves crashed in the distance, the moon’s reflection stretching across the ocean.
I wanted to do more than kiss her. To remind her how much I worshipped her body, to have her fall apart for me and remind myself why I’d wanted no one but her. But I understood the hesitation. I’d hurt her, left her in anguish to pick up the pieces of a life I’d shattered and to raise our son without me. She could take all the time she wanted because I would continue to wait for her.
Dropping her head back onto my chest, she let out a long sigh. “We should go back. I’m not sure your sister is the best choice to watch our son.”
My hand froze, hanging in stasis as strands of hair slipped through my fingers. Our son? Had I heard her correctly? She lifted her head, eyes searching mine until understanding filled them. A small smile offset the emotion in her eyes.
“Prove yourself to me, Gabe, and I’ll tell him the truth. He’s your son, and he needs to know that.”
“And I’ll tell him the truth.” I had to because the blame was mine. The lost years. As much as I blamed my father, I had made the choice and done the damage. “I’m the one who should. You’ve done enough. It’s my turn.”
Her hand smoothed down my shirt. “We’ve both carried our own burdens, Gabe. I see that now. It’s time we stopped.”
