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Her eyes search mine, darting back and forth as if she can’t believe I’m real. Hell, I’m terrified this is another dream because there’s no way she’s clinging to me right now. There’s no way all it was going to take was to come to her and tell her how I felt. Could I have ended this misery months ago? Will she ever be able to forgive me for not being man enough to admit how much I need her?
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
Anna keeps her eyes on me, ignoring the angry woman at her side. Dani no longer exists to her, and that fact is clear in her eyes.
“You haven’t been sleeping well,” I observe, running a thumb softly under her eye. She’s glowing, don’t get me wrong, but even makeup can’t cover the slight bruising.
“You either,” she whispers looking at my own face.
“Is that going to change?” It’s an indirect question, and I hope she understands the significance of it.
“I want it to.”
I kiss her again because how could I not? I hate that we’re in public. I hate that there are too many layers of clothing between our bodies right now. I hate that I didn’t go to her last night at Flynn’s insistence, but being here is a statement of its own. I hate these kinds of things. I hate the restriction the tie is causing around my neck. I hate shiny shoes and fake-ass people with more money than sense. But I’m here, proving a point. If this is part of her life, then it’s going to be part of mine as well, if she allows it.
“I love you,” I confess.
Dani gasps again, but Anna doesn’t seem as surprised as a gorgeous smile curves her wicked mouth.
“That so?”
“I’ve never loved someone as much as I love you.”
Her throat works on a swallow as her eyes turn glossy. One single tear pools on her lower lash, but I kiss it away.
“I can’t promise you an eternity because my job is dangerous, but I promise to love you every night my head hits my pillow and every single day I’m granted the opportunity to wake up.”
“Deacon,” she says, her voice cracking, filled with emotion.
“Everything before you was smoke and mist, inconsequential distractions from what I really needed. I see you, Annalise Grimaldi, and I’ll never let anything make me lose sight of that again.”
“I never should’ve denied what was happening betwe—”
I press my fingers to her lips. “No going back. We’re only moving forward.”
She puckers her lips, kissing my fingertips before turning her head to press those same petal soft lips to the inside cuff of my wrist.
“I love you, too.”
I swear angels are singing, serenading us with joy.
“Yeah?” She nods her head. I pull her against me, leaning down so I can bury my face into the soft fragrant curls of her hair.
***
“We can go slower,” I pant the second I open her condo door, but she’s ravenous, tugging my mouth down to hers while tugging my shirt out of the stupid black pants I’m wearing tonight. I’ll never love getting dressed up in a penguin suit, but maybe one day, I won’t completely hate it.
“I don’t understand the question.”
I laugh, my hands going straight to her ass. The pull of her against my now bare chest isn’t exactly comfortable. The sequins or beads or whatever it is on the front of her dress abrades my skin, but maybe I deserve the bite of pain for staying away so long. I know I want to whip my own ass right now. Sixty-six days have passed since the diamonds were handed over to Petrovich, and I’ve counted each and every damn one because it meant lying down in my empty bed without her.
“You’re like a crazed animal right now,” I hiss when she tears at the buttons of my slacks to get to the hidden zipper.
“Calm down.”
I placed my hands over hers, clasping them until she looks up at me. Her face falls, and I wonder if she thinks I’m going to put a stop to this. For the record, there isn’t any way to stop this train. I’m simply trying to prevent it from breaking down long before it reaches the station. I haven’t had her in months, and even though I’ve only had her once, the memories of that glorious morning are imprinted in my head. I want to create a million more, starting tonight.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” I tell her, one hand positioning her arms behind her back, and the other looking for the zipper of her dress.
She looks fucking bridal in all white with her tanned skin glowing. The sight of her from across the room earlier made all sorts of thoughts swim through my head, a couple of questions I plan to ask, but I think right now may be a little too soon for that, no matter if she told me she loved me.
