His throat bobbed, but she kept going, her heart in every syllable.
“I love you, Kabir. I’m proud, so proud of the man you are. There is no greater privilege in my mind than being the woman you love.”
Her voice broke, but her eyes held his firmly, fiercely.
“And whatever comes with it, your past, your birth family, your cousin, the dark parts, the messy parts, the parts that scare you, I will love all of it. Because it’s yours. Because it’s you. Because it’s what shaped the man I’m madly, stupidly, insanely in love with.”
Kabir swallowed hard. “When you said, maybe never, did you mean it?”
Tears slipped past Tani’s iron control, sliding down her cheeks. “In the moment, maybe,” she confessed. “We never seem to get our timing right, the two of us. But Kabs, you don’t scare me. Your life doesn’t scare me. Losing you does.”
“You couldn’t lose me even if you tried. I’ve loved you for so damn long I don’t remember who I was before you.” Kabir let out a shuddering breath, eyes bright, rimmed with exhaustion and something far more fragile, something that looked and felt an awful lot like hope.
“You were the only dream I ever had that wasn’t poisoned by my past. The only thing that felt pure. Every good part of me, every soft part, comes from knowing you. And I’ve spent years trying to pretend I didn’t need you because I was terrified I’d ruin you.”
His voice cracked. “But the truth Bug? The truth is I am ruined without you. I love you in every place I’m broken. I love you in every breath I take. You are the only woman I have ever loved, and the only one I ever fucking will.”
He walked around the kitchen counter and wrapped his arms around hers. “One last chance, Tani. Please? I promise not to fuck it up this time.”
“Don’t you get it?” she asked, smiling softly through her tears. “I’ll give you every chance in the world for a shot at being loved by you. Every inch of you and your life is mine.”
A deep, shuddering breath escaped him as he curved his body around hers, holding her tight.
“You don’t need to worry about Zara,” he said, his face buried in her hair. “I’ll handle-“
“Don’t you get it, dumbass?” She rose on her tiptoes, the tip of her nose touching his. “Like I said, every single inch of your life is mine. Including her.”
He smoothed her hair back from her face. “It doesn’t seem fair that I come into this relationship with so much baggage and you’re just perfect.”
“Perfect?” Tani arched a brow. “I have Rehan in my family tree.”
Kabir’s hand paused in her hair. “Well now…okay,” he drawled. “Maybe you win.”
Tani burst into laughter, the sound filling the space around them, expanding until it felt like it wrapped his heart in a golden glow. And then he just had to reach down and kiss her, steal the joy from her lips, soak it in until it warmed him from the inside out.
Would he ever get tired of this, holding her in his arms, wrapped in her laughter and love?
Maybe never.
EPILOGUE
FOUR YEARS LATER…
“Your husband is a fascist!”
Zara exploded through the front door of their penthouse, rage, frustration and teenage hormones swirling in a dense cloud around her angry face.
“Uh huh,” Tani replied, picking up her cup of herbal tea and sipping. She grimaced at the taste. God, she missed coffee…
Across from where Tani sat on the couch, snuggled under a throw with a book on her lap, Zara paced, her angry footsteps a perfect accompaniment to the cloud of her emotions.
The front door opened, more calmly this time, and Kabir strolled in. As it always did, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. Kabir walked over to where Tani sat and settled down beside her, drawing her legs into his lap. He massaged the soles of her feet gently and a happy sigh escaped her.
“This,” Zara hissed suddenly, making Tani jump, “is not South Korea. This is not a dictatorship.”
“And clearly the money we’re spending on private school is being wasted on you,” Kabir replied, stealing Tani’s mug and taking a sip. “Ugh!” He pulled a face. “What is this?”
“Herbal tea,” Tani replied mournfully.
