He glanced at her, enjoying her astounded expression, flushed cheeks, wide eyes and kissable lips.“I love you, Isla.I’m in love with you.”
“You… I… I thought…”
“Yeah, so did I.We agreed this couldn’t happen because we want different things out of life, but as it turns out, the only thing I seem to want out of life is you.And your kids, God help them.You’ve just been to your husband’s wake, everything is in an uproar right now, it’s the worst possible time for something like this, and yet… there’s absolutely no denying that I love you.”
“Julian…”
“It’s okay.You don’t have to say anything.I just wanted you to know.”
After a long moment of silence during which he was increasingly focused on the feel of her hand on his leg, she said, “I’m pretty sure I love you, too.No, wait… I’m absolutely sure I do, because when we decided to call this off, the ache was unlike anything I’d ever felt, even when I lost my parents.I wouldn’t have thought anything could’ve been worse than that, but losing you was.”
“You haven’t lost me.That is, if you’re willing to take on a major fixer-upper who’s probably emotionally stunted and the biggest skeptic in the history of the world that something this amazing can possibly last.”
“It can last if we both want it more than anything.”
“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
She looked over at him, smiling.“That’s a pretty good place to start.”
“I also want you to know that despite all my vows to avoid the trappings of marriage, I’d do it for you if it’s what you really want.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder and gave his leg a squeeze that made him instantly hard for her.“You said several things happened while you were gone.What else?”
“I saw my parents.”
Her head came up as she spun around on the bench to face him.“What?Where?”
Julian pointed to the sandy path that led to the parking lot.“Right there.Holding hands, laughing, chasing after my mother’s little dog, Snowball, without a care in the world.They never looked my way.”
“Oh, Julian.My God.That must’ve been shocking.”
“Not as shocking as it would’ve been without Kaidan tipping us off that she thought they might be back together.”
“But still… To see it with your own eyes.”
“Yeah.”
“Have you told the others?”
He shook his head.“I was still processing it when I came to pick you up and using it to try to talk myself out of the thing I just told you.”His face lifted into a small grin.“As you can tell, I failed miserably at trying to talk myself out of telling you how I feel.”
“I’m glad you failed,” she said, smiling, “but I want you to know, even though you love me and I love you, you don’t owe me anything.I understand why you feel the way you do about marriage and divorce.I don’t blame you for wanting to avoid the whole potential mess.I was also thinking after we talked the other night that I’ve learned, from my own experience, that there’s something to be said for being able to leave, if need be, without having to legally dissolve a family.”
He hated to think about dissolving anything with her.“As someone who dissolves families for a living, there’s a lot to be said for the freedom to leave if it comes to that.I think it’s actually a bigger deal to be together simply because you want to be and not because the law says you have to be after you put on a puffy white dress and make public vows.”
“I hate being the center of attention.If I ever get married again, it won’t be in a puffy white dress in front of people.”
“I love learning new things about you, such as you hate being the center of attention.Would it be okay if you were the center of my attention?”
She gave him a saucy grin that lit up her lovely eyes.“I think I could live with that.”
“That’s good, because I don’t think I could live without you now that I know you exist in the world.”
“Same.”She leaned forward to meet him halfway in a soft, sexy kiss full of hope and anticipation.“So, what does all this mean?”
“I guess we’re choosing to be together for as long as it works for both of us.”
“That sounds perfect,” she said with a sigh.“And you won’t have to deal with your brothers if we’re not getting married.”
