“Stay?” The word came out smaller than I’d intended.
“Yeah. Stay. I know that if you walk out of my life, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life.”
“Why?” The question burst out of me. “Why do you need me to stay? What am I to you?”
Because I couldn’t be convenient. Couldn’t be the woman who helped him get over Valentine’s Day.
He grabbed his jeans from the floor and put them on. “You want to know what you are to me?”
“Yes.”
He looked at me for a long moment. I saw the fear of being vulnerable again written all over his face. Then he took a breath.
“You’re everything,” he said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dalton
The words came out before I could stop them.
“You’re everything,” I repeated.
Amber stared at me like I’d just spoken a foreign language.
“What?”
“You heard me.” I rounded the bed, standing beside her, my hands on my hips. “You want to know what you are to me? You’re the reason I cut my hand that day. I was distracted by the fact you were in the house. You’re the reason I come in for lunch now instead of eating in the bunkhouse just so I can make sure you’ve eaten. You’re the reason I check to see what time it is a hundred times a day wondering when I can stop work and see you again.”
Her eyes went wide. “I thought you were avoiding me.”
“I was. Because every time I’m in the same room with you, I want to touch you. And I knew if I touched you, I wouldn’t be able to stop.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been? Sitting across from you at meals. Working in the same office. Watching you walk around my house like you belong here?”
“I don’t—”
“You do. You’ve belonged here since the first day you stood up to me and told me I was being unreasonable.” I moved closer.“You’ve belonged here since you bandaged my hand without being asked. Since you made dinner without expecting anything in return. Since you called me from that ditch even though I’d told you not to.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You called me. Not a tow service. Not your aunt. Me.” My voice cracked. “Do you know what that did to me? Hearing your voice, knowing you were stuck out there, knowing I’d told you not to call and you called anyway?”
“You came for me.”
“Of course I came for you. I’d drive through a blizzard, a tornado, the damn apocalypse if you needed me.” I cupped her face in my hands. “Because you’re not just some woman I’m attracted to. You’re not just someone I like having in my bed. You’re—”
I stopped. The words stuck in my throat.
Say it. Just fucking say it.
“I’m what?” she whispered.
“You’re the woman I’m in love with.”
The silence that followed felt like an eternity.
“You don’t mean that,” she said finally.
“I do.”
