Placing his hand on Clarke’s shoulder, the last man sighed. “We think you should kiss her now.”
Clarke gazed at Ceci, but didn’t move.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Ceci huffed.
She threw herself at him, wrapped her arms around him, placing her lips on his.
The English-speaking man smiled. “The language of love requires no translation.”
The other men nodded in agreement.
Ceci
“How does it feel?” Ceci asked as she held a towel filled with ice to Clarke’s cheek and eye.
“Not too bad. Nothing I’m not used to whenever I’m around you.”
“You’re the one who invited Tilney to pay you back and then just stood there when he punched you.”
“It was the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, he deserved it. But it’s not as though he came at me and I was defending myself. Besides, I didn’t give him much of a warning.” He paused and pushed her hand down. “I hope you noticed I remained standing after he hit me. Unlike him.”
She grinned. “I did, Sir Galahad.”
She placed the towel back on his eye.
Are we really going to do this?
“What’s with that worried look?” he asked.
She sighed. “Even if we can forgive each other for the things we’ve said, we’ll never forget them.”
“I suppose that’s true, but I also won’t forget what your face looked like when Holly and Boudica crossed that finish line, or that look of pure fire when you were riding that bull, or the way you taste, or how I feel when you call me Sir Galahad.”
“I make no promises about that. I’m under no obligation to say that. Ever. Again.”
He grinned. “Of course not.”
She rolled her eyes.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward him. “Ceci. There are so many things I will never forget when it comes to you, things that make me ignore my own sanity and safety. Don’t you understand? I can’t not love you. Trust me. I’ve tried. I’ve been trying for a long time now. You’re like a virus, one of those crafty ones that never leaves you and lies dormant in your system. Only you don’t lie dormant. Maybe I should want you to. But I don’t.”
“So in professing your love to me, you liken me to a virus. How romantic.”
Shrugging, he chuckled.
Ceci sighed. “Okay, but down the road those words are bound to come out when you’re angry or I am, we’re bound to hurl those awful words at each other again, which shows that we never forgot.”
“We’re bound to hurl all sorts of things at each other. I know you are—pots and pans, maybe even a trophy, definitely a bucket of water. I might not like that you remember some of those things I’ve said and done and I’ll wish I could take them back. But I can live with it. Because I know that in spite of all that, I love you and you love me. What would it say about you or me, and the way we feel about each other now and forever, if we could just forget all that and put it behind us?” He pulled her toward him. “As long as we make up.”
“Did you just say forever?”
He pulled back. “Did I?”
Ceci nodded. She watched his Adam’s apple rise and fall as he swallowed. Then he turned and scowled at her.
“Okay, so what? So I did. You have a problem with that?”
Smiling, she shook her head. “No. And one thing you can be certain of, I’ll always have your back. If Tilney had knocked you out, I would have been there to revive you.”
