Was she? She hadn’t realized. Shaking her head, she said, “Water main break. I can’t stopit.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’d hoped you’d be happy to seeme.”
The uncertainty in his voice killed her. “I am. I am so fucking happy to seeyou.”
“I’d feel better about this whole thing if you could stopcrying.”
“Doc said I'm overdue, so it may be a while before thathappens.”
He climbed one more step, forcing her to tilt her head back. “What can I do tohelp?”
“Touchme.”
His hands clasped the sides of her face and he touched his lips to hers. Throwing her arms around his neck, she pressed her body as close as she could with one step still between them. She wanted to wrap herself around him. Put her hands on every inch of him. Have his weight press down onher.
The screen door slammed and a throat cleared. “Son. I’m going to have to ask you what your intentions are toward mydaughter.”
Trust her dad to kill the moment. That must have been why he’d looked at her mom like she was crazy. He’d known Chris was coming. She didn’t know whether to punch him or hug him. Maybeboth.
Chris broke their kiss and stared at her. “Well, sir, I plan on declaring my undying love and devotion to yourdaughter.”
“Jesus. You couldn’t have found someonenormal?”
The screen door slammed again, so she assumed her dad went back inside and the question wasrhetorical.
“Is normal what you want?” Chrisasked.
“I think normal would be pretty damnboring.”
He brushed the hair away from her face. “Me,too.”
“What does declaring your undying love and devotion mean,exactly?”
“For starters, it means one day he’s going to ask me that question and I’m going to ask his permission to marryyou.”
For once in her life she didn’t have a snappy comeback. She must look like a fish because all she could do was open and close hermouth.
“In the meantime, it means I’m not leaving youagain.”
She shook her head. “You can’t make those kinds of promises, Chris. With yourjob—”
“Iquit.”
“You—What?” He’d knocked her speechless for the second time in onlymoments.
“They wanted to transfer me to Arizona. I said no. I’m not leaving you again. That’s one of the reasons it took me so long to get up here. I had to process out of theBureau.”
“You can’t do that for me.” She tried to lower her arms, but he held hertighter.
“I did it for us. I also did it just for me. I was burning out, Denise. Fast. I knew I needed to make a change, but I didn’t know what to do. Jase offered me a partnership in V.E.T. Adventures. Iaccepted.”
“Oh.” He’d quit. For her. For them, but also for her. She licked her lips. “Does it mean anythingelse?”
His thumb brushed across her bottom lip. “Yeah, it does. It means I’m in love with you and I plan on being in love with you for a very longtime.”
“Oh.” The tears stopped. Everything stopped. The doubt and fear. Everything inside her fell into place as if it been a swirling mass that finally settled into calm, peacefulbliss.
“Oh. I can wait until you’re ready to say it,too.”
