“You said we’d never even gone on a date. You’re right, and you deserve that.” Another step brought him close enough that he could reach out and touch her, but he held himself back. “You deserve someone who sees you across a room and says, ‘Her. I want to get to know her better.’ You deserve someone who’ll pick you up at your front door and boost you up into his truck because it’s too tall for your gorgeous legs.”
Another step. Another few inches closer to the woman who was more important to him than anything in the world.
“You deserve someone who’ll choose a quiet restaurant so he can hear everything you say over dinner. Because the things you say, Thea? The funny, smart, surprising things that come out of your mouth? I don’t want to miss a single word.”
She was blinking faster now as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, and Aiden finally reached for her, cupping her face and blotting the moisture on her lashes with his thumbs.
“You deserve someone who’ll drive you home and walk you to the door and kiss you good night. You deserve someone who’ll leave you with a fast pulse and sweet dreams, who’ll come back and take you out again, over and over, until he’s shown you that he’s worthy of your good, trusting heart.” He leaned down, desperate to kiss her but reluctant to push. “You deserveeverything, and I want to be the man who gives it all to you. I’ll be patient. You made me believe I could offer someone a lifelong commitment. And now I want to date you and hold your hand and wait for you to believe you’re worth of that too. As long as it takes.”
As he spoke, his hands slid down to caress the sides of her throat, then skimmed over her shoulders to fall by his sides as he waited in agony for her next words. Slowly, ever so slowly, her stunned expression shifted into a frown.
“No,” she said. “I don’t want that.”
Pain lashed through him at her words, but before he could respond, she reached for his hand.
“I don’t need any of that. I just needyou.” She tilted her head up to meet his eyes. “You overwhelm me. I didn’t think it would be possible, but you make me want forever.”
His palm met hers, small and soft in his grip. “Oh yeah? Forever?”
“I know. Such a long time.” She shook her head helplessly. “But it turns out, loving you is actually really easy once you let yourself.”
Joy. Total joy coursed through his veins at her words, and his whole body lit up. “You love me?”
“I do. So much,” she said. “Forever.”
He studied her face, searching for any trace of doubt or fear, but her eyes were dreamy and her lips tipped up at the corners. This was what Thea looked like when she finally let herself believein him, inthem. He’d been sincere about every compliment he’d ever paid her, but time and again she’d brushed his words aside or laughed them off. Today though, he saw how she transformed when that belief sank into her bones. He never wanted her to lose that, so he did his part to drive the message home.
Sliding his arm around her waist, he pulled her close and said, “If I get to have any say in it, I’d choose to be with you forever too.”
“You get some say in that, yes.” She inhaled shakily and rested a hand on his chest. “So new plan: I’m choosing you. Work and home. My whole life. With my whole heart.” Then a wicked little smile stretched across her face. “And I’m not just saying that because you still owe me a skylight in the bedroom.”
“I’ll get started on it tonight.” He wrapped his other arm around her and lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist and he could have unfettered access to her lips.
She looped her arms around his neck. “I might have a couple of things on my to-do list that are a little more important than that.”
“Like what?”
“Me, for one,” she said pertly, and he tightened his hold on her so he could open his office door, flick off the light, and carry her down the hall toward his truck so he could drive them straight home.
But they got a little delayed when he spun and pressed her against the wall so he could kiss her until they were both breathless.
“There’s a lot more of that on my list,” she said huskily when they pulled away. “But with a lot fewer clothes.”
He groaned. “What am I going to do with you, killer?”
“Love me for the rest of our lives?” She looked up at him, and he had to kiss her again.
“Yep. That’s the plan.”
Epilogue
Nine years later
* * *
“Absolutely not!”
The two Murdochs froze as Thea stepped onto the front porch and slammed the hobbit door behind her.
