“I won’t lie to you. I won’t pretend with you. I’ll give you my authentic self, and as you may have noticed, that’s no prize because my true self is messy and sometimes dark. Most importantly, I won’t hide us from anyone.”
Oh. Oh...
Mo tilted her chin so she was looking up at him. “You can have as long as you need to think about it. But if we’re doing this, we’re doing it in the open.”
“Mo?”
“Yes?”
“Can I talk now?”
“Sorry. Of course.”
“What exactly are we doing?”
He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure what you’re doing, but I’m falling in love with you. Or maybe I’m remembering that I’ve always been in love with you and now I’m figuring out what that looks like.”
She should have said something romantic and epic. What she said was, “Okay. Good.”
“Good?” One eyebrow crept up. “All of that, and you say, ‘Good’?”
“Well, yeah. It would have been awkward if you were thinking that we’re starting from scratch and you didn’t know where we might be headed when I’m over here thinking that we’re ... well...” She choked on the word. Her courage evaporated. Her skin heated. Her heart beat so fast, she was afraid she might look like one of those cartoon characters whose heart juts five feet out of their chest.
Mo’s lips brushed her forehead. “Now that’s cruel. Don’t leave me standing here, desperate to know what you think we are.” His lips danced across her ear. “You can tell me anything.”
“You’re a menace.” Seriously. She could barely stand up.
His lips flitted over her cheekbones. “What are we, Bronwyn?”
There was no hesitation. “Forever.”
Mo’s arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight against him, and it was only then that she realized this man she’d loved her entire life was trembling against her. His reaction gave her the courage to rise on her tiptoes and press a series of kisses to his jaw. “Mine. Always. Forever.” Then she gave him more of the truth. “Also, I’m terrified. I’m terrified of what I feel for you. Terrified of what it means to give in to this. Terrified that we’ll mess it upand the pain will be a thousand times worse. But I’m choosing you, anyway. I’m choosing the person you are today. The person I know you to be. Your character. Your heart. Your determination. Your vulnerability. Your promise to tell me the truth. I’m choosing all of that. And I’m still afraid.”
He held her for a long moment. She had no regrets about what she’d said. It was all true. But she did wish he’d say something.
He rubbed her back and spoke in a contemplative tone. “One thing I’ve learned about fear—you can’t logic your way out of it, but sometimes you can experience your way out of it.” He gave her a squeeze and stepped back. “I’m not sure when it will happen, but it will. One day, you’ll wake up and realize you aren’t afraid anymore.”
Thirty-Four
The sharprat-a-tat-taton the doorframe startled Mo, and he shoved Bronwyn behind him and pulled his weapon from his waistband in two frantic seconds.
“Yo, Mo! You in there?” Cal was at the door.
Bronwyn sagged against his back, and her arms snaked around his waist. “To be clear, that kind of experience is not helping my fears.”
“Mo! Bronwyn!”
“What?” they both yelled back.
Cal knocked again. “I don’t want to see anything that will make me need to bleach my eyes. Is it safe to enter?”
Mo slid his gun back into place and jerked the door open. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at work?”
Cal stood there with his hands on his hips. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” He turned on Bronwyn. “Or you? What’s wrong with you two? Everything has gone haywire, and you’ve fallen off the radar.” He tapped on the phone in his hand, then made a phone call.
Mo slid an arm around Bronwyn. “We were busy. What’s happened?”
Cal leaned a hand on the doorframe. “Give me a second. I raced over here.” He’d put the phone on speaker, and the ringing came through loud and clear.
