RHYLIE
I must be dying from choking because there’s no way Lucas Blackwood who has starred in my fantasies since day one just told me he loves me. I have to be dying any moment now I'm going to see the light and isn't that just something, being taken out by a cup of coffee. I can see him moving his lips but nothing is registering right now. After hacking up a lung I can finally hear what he's been saying to me.
“Ry are you okay, I’m so sorry for blurting it out like that. Say something please, you're scaring me”.
Getting myself under control after that spastic display god that’s twice now he made me choke and not the good kind, not that I would know anything about that because hello virgin mary here I only know from the romance books I’ve read. I’m such a walking disaster on most days and of course, I almost get taken out by my beloved coffee. Looking down at my cup and giving it an offended look trying to get myself under control. Once I can finally breathe again I look up at Lucas and whisper
“What did you say?”
I know I didn’t hear him correctly because there is no way I heard what I heard. He slides off the couch to kneel in front of me and takes both of my hands so that we are sitting at eye level. I feel an electrical zap go through me and suck in air looking up at him. I know he felt it as well. He’s staring at me like he can see straight into my soul that he can see all my secrets, hopes, and dreams. I hope he can't because wouldn't that be embarrassing if he knew all the naughty dreams I've had about him. Shaking myself out of these thoughts I look up and what I see steals my breath away. Lucas has a soft smile but I can also see a vulnerability I’ve never seen before in his eyes like what he's going to say next can make or break him and what he says next leaves me speechless.
“Rhylie, remember the first day that we met I came down with your brother when we were on leave. The shy smile you gave me as Mason introduced us is when I fell for you. That smile pierced my heart and I knew from that moment you were meant to be mine and mine alone, my soul felt at peace for the first time in my life. Everything else faded around me and I saw my future standing in front of me. I knew you felt the same by the way you looked at me but I couldn’t tell you then, I didn’t want to start anything when I knew I had to leave within the week. You deserved more than a relationship over a letter and being in a war it’s not always guaranteed that I would come back. Anytime you wrote to your brother I would ask how you were doing but apparently, Mason could see right through me, he’s known right from the start how I felt.”
“I don’t understand, why didn't you say anything before?”
At this point tears are running down my face and Lucas is wiping them away with a soft smile on his face.
“Let me finish baby girl. When we decided not to reenlist, I knew I had to get my life in order so that one day I could be the man you deserve so that’s why I started Blackwood Customs. I rented the house next to yours so I could be close to you and watch over you. I love you Rhylie, you are the light to my darkness. I’ve done and seen a lot of bad stuff in the Army but one smile from you and that blackness is gone. I know I’m not good enough for you but I will always take care of you.”
I’m sitting here with tears running down my face no doubt looking like a hot mess and Lucas just told me he loves me and that he always has. I’m left speechless. Maybe I’m still sleeping and I’m going to wake up and this has just been another one of my dreams because I’ve had this dream before where he tells me he loves me and we get to live happily ever after. Maybe I just need to pinch myself to see.
“Ouch”
“Why the hell did you pinch yourself Ry, don’t do that again?” he growls at me as if the thought of me being even slightly hurt offends him. He continues to rub the spot I pinched making goosebumps cover my whole body.
Ok, so not a dream at all, and that hurt. Note to self don't pinch yourself because I’m pretty sure that's going to leave a small bruise. Holy shit, Lucas Blackwood freaking loves me. Me, the girl who's been obsessed with him from day one. Okay Rhylie, get it together and say something. Hopefully I don't screw this up and he takes back everything he just said to me. “Ummmm I thought I was dreaming so I wanted to see if this was real”
“It’s real Rhylie, I do love you. Right from the start baby girl.”
He wipes the remaining tears on my face and lifts my hands and places them on his chest right above his heart.
“You feel that, how fast it’s going, it beats for you and only you, you are my future Ry and I'm hoping you feel the same way.” After a long moment of me just processing his words, he says
“Are you going to say something or just leave me hanging.”
Okay, I can do this deep breath’s Ry you can do this. Shit, I’m freaking out. I mean I love him as well since the moment I laid eyes on him but never in a million years did I think something like this would happen. I thought I would never have this chance. Time to pull up my big girl panties and just tell him how I feel.
