He nods. “I was having a shitty morning. A really shitty morning. And it was because I needed this. I needed you to know.” He shrugs. “And I guess I needed to know, too.”
Guilt squeezes my heart.
He must read my face because he shakes his head. “It’s okay. You already made me feel better. Like you always do. It’s one of the reasons I love you.”
I bite my bottom lip. “You make me feel better too.”Can you hear me sayingI love you? My eyes sting. I blink them hard.
“I love you, Millie.”
I shut my eyes, trying to keep from falling apart.
Luc brushes his lips against my ear. “Let yourself feel it,” he whispers. “I love you.”
Then I hear him.Let yourself feel it.
So I do.
Luc Valencia. Just told me. That he loves me. He lovesme.
My stomach balls up like I’m in a plummeting elevator. Because I don’t deserve him. Because I love him back. So much. Because I want this more than anything. Because letting myself feel his words is a shortcut to letting my heart get the shit kicked out of it.
“Luc?”
“Yeah,linda?”
I swallow. “I’m a chicken shit.”
He presses his lips together and tries not to laugh. Instead, he shakes his head. “No, you’re not.”
“No, I am,” I say, my brows climbing. “And I just think it’s fair you know. You’re in love with a chicken shit.”
This time he does laugh. And the ball in my stomach softens a little. God, I love making him laugh.
He shakes his head again. “You’re the bravest person I know.”
I snort, an emission I immediately regret. Snorting while naked is never a good idea. “If I’m the bravest person you know, then you know a lot of chicken shits.”
But by the time I manage to say this, we are both laughing. It becomes hysterical. Unstoppable. The ball completely dissolves and then I really feel it.
I feel what it means to have Luc’s love.
It’s big. I can’t touch it or see it, but I know it’s big. And it’s solid. Solid enough to hold my weight. And my fears.
And it’s warm. God, it’s warm.
So warm, I want to draw it up inside me. I want to be one with it.
I want to be one with him.
I watch as he catches his breath, the laughter finally abandoning him. He’s looking down at me, dark eyes shining, and the look in them makes me feel like I’m the most important person in his world.
Which is a damn good thing because even though there are three people who have to be pretty damn important in mine, I suddenly have no doubt that I can make room for one more.
“Luc.” I capture his face between my hands again. I leave room in the valleys between my thumbs and index fingers so I can see his dimples.
“What,mi amor?”This time, I feel this too. His words tickle through my chest and land on my heart like goose down from a pillow.
That same heart pounds, picking up speed as I take a deep breath. “I love you, too.”
