I popped up on to my elbow. “Yes. I was just thinking the same thing.”
Under the tangled covers, he trailed his fingers from my waist, up over my hip and down my thigh. It was like someone running their hands over every button inside an elevator—everything inside me was back on again. “You're much freer with your body now, Katherine. It's really very sexy.”
I laughed quietly. He wasn't wrong, but boy howdy had Eamon and I made a solid run at being free with our bodies the first time we'd been together. “I’m sort of over worrying about the parts of me that pudge out. I'll never be as skinny as you, anyway.”
“I love every square inch of you, especially the wobbly bits.” He pushed me onto my back and started kissing my neck again, lazily blazing a trail with his mouth that led across my chest and ended at my breasts. He pressed soft kisses in a circle, which was heavenly on its own, but I nearly shot off into space when he drew my nipple into his mouth.
I arched into him. He knew exactly how to make me weak. I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed the box of condoms sitting there. “Last one,” I said, handing him the packet.
“Better make it count.” He rolled to his side then he had me at his mercy again. He went as deep as he could, pressing into my hips with his, nuzzling my neck with his scratchy beard. I wrapped my legs around him, digging my heels into his ass and running my hands all over his back. It didn't take long before we were both gasping for breath.
I curled into him, kissing his chest. “We should probably think about food at some point.”
He drew circles on my back with his hand. “We never ate dinner last night.”
“I know. What sounds good? I could make eggs. Maybe French toast?” I started to get out of bed, but he stopped me with a tug of his arm. “Eamon. We just finished. I’d like to return to work without a limp.”
He laughed. “Well done, keeping your head in the gutter.”
“If anyone has their brain in the gutter, it's you.” I relented and sat down on the bed.
“I need to say something. And I don't think it's a good idea to wait on it.” There was a sharp edge to his voice that made my stomach sink. There was something wrong, or at the very least something bothering him, and it didn't seem fair that we should have to face anything hard or difficult right now. We were just getting started.
“What is it?”
“We never talked about this when you were in Ireland. Everything snuck up on us so fast.” He held my hand, playing with my fingers, looking down and avoiding my eyes.
“What is it?” I couldn't begin to imagine what it was that we hadn't talked about. We'd talked about so much—dreams and beauty and aspirations.
When he looked up, his steely gray eyes nearly made the earth stop spinning. “Love. We never talked about love. All that time together and we never said ‘I love you’.” He reached up and it was his turn to push the hair back from my face. “Truth is, I love you. I think I have always loved you. Even all this time. I think I've loved you since before we even knew each other.”
Tears wobbled in my eyes. I felt that, too. I'd put it in my letter. The one that was never read. I'd putI love youout into the universe and it disappeared. “I love you, too, Eamon. I feel like I have this second chance at life right now. Just because you're back in it.”
We kissed, and my wet cheeks rubbed against his. We were both half laughing, half serious. This was a kiss we would both remember.
“I actually said I love you in the letter I wrote. The one you never got.”
His eyes grew sad again. “You did?” He shook his head and collapsed on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “I hate that I never saw it. I hate thinking that you said that and you never got a response from me.” Rolling onto his side, he looked at me with all earnestness. “If I'd seen that, I would've written you back. I would've called you. I would've flown to see you or bought you a plane ticket. I want you to know that.”
Somehow, that wasn't what I wanted to hear, even though at the time, I would've done anything for those things to have happened. “But you didn't see it. And those things didn't happen. And I can't live with any more regrets. So let's just not talk about it anymore.” I had too many regrets living in my heart already.
He kissed me tenderly. “We have today and I love you. That's all that matters.”
“We have tomorrow and the day after that, too.”
“If we're lucky, yes.”
I settled my head against his chest and he pulled me closer. “I love you, Eamon. That never went away.”
And I meant it. Every syllable.
Chapter Twelve
I wasn't doing a particularlygood job at achieving a work-Eamon balance. In fact, I was failing spectacularly.
“I really, really, really have to go into work today. I'll get fired if I don't. It's been three days. I'm sure I have a million things to catch up on.” I shuffled backwards across the floor of my bedroom wearing only my underwear, headed for the closet to grab some clothes.
Eamon was in hot pursuit wearing only his boxers, which hung super low on his hips. “I know. You have things to do. So do I.”
