‘I should never have let you send me away the other night, but I didn’t know what to say. Or do. I’m so sorry, Kate.’
She shook her head. He had nothing to be sorry for.
‘I didn’t want you to think I was trying to take control,’ he continued. ‘To tell you what to do. I didn’t know what to do. I needed to think. To figure things out.’
He sounded so sincere. So… confident?
‘And did you? Figure things out?’
Connor nodded slowly. ‘I reckon. I wasn’t sure until I was standing outside the department and I saw Bella and I knew you were in danger, and then I knew.’
‘Knew what?’
‘How much I love you.’
Kate’s vision misted. ‘I love you, too, Connor. You’re… amazing.’
A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. ‘It’s going to be all right, you know.’
‘What is?’
‘Us. Life. We both know what it’s like not to be loved. We’ve both been too scared to take the risk of loving someone in case it happened again, but it’s not going to happen again, Katie. Not ever. I can’tnotlove you, do you understand? Not ever.’
‘Oh…’ Kate breathed. ‘I understand.’
Of course she did. It was the way she felt about Connor. Her love for him was a part of every cell of her being. If it went away, she would cease to exist.
‘We’re perfect for each other,’ Connor whispered. ‘And that makes anything possible. Making love… Making a baby, even.’
The flutter of panic was muted but it was still there. Enough to make Kate’s body tense involuntarily.
‘You’re going too fast,’ she gasped.
‘I’m sorry.’ Connor pulled her close again and this time he was rocking her gently. The tension ebbed and a soft warmth stole through Kate.
‘I want you,’ Connor murmured just above her ear. ‘I want everything. I want to marry you, Katie.’ She felt his chest heave as he took a very deep breath. ‘That’s all I really need. Could you go that far?’
Kate had to swallow past the constriction in her throat. ‘Yes…’ she managed. ‘Oh…yes.’
The distance between them increased as though they both needed to see the face of the other. For a long, long moment they stared at each other, soaking in the wonder of the words that had just been spoken. The promise that had been made.
The hope that the future suddenly held.
Connor’s face wasn’t quite clear, however. Were tears blurring her eyes? Kate reached under her glasses to wipe them away and felt them being lifted from her face.
‘You don’t need those right now,’ Connor told her. He put them down on the desk behind them and then turned back with a smile. ‘I’ve had a fantasy about doing this,’ he told Kate.
‘What… taking off my glasses?’
‘Mmm. And this.’ Connor’s hands went to the end of the braid hanging over her shoulder and he pulled off the band holding it together. He used his fingers to tease out the bends until her hair was completely loose. Then he wound lengths of it around his hands until they reached the back of her head and Kate couldn’t move. He angled her head gently and bent his own to meet her lips with his.
And Kate still felt safe.
Floating in safety.
Free.
Her hands were on the back of Connor’s head, urging him to deepen the kiss. Until he had to pull away.
