Page 78 of The Maverick's Homecoming

The lights were on at her house. He parked at the curb, got out and marched up the front walk to the door.

When she pulled the door open, his heart stopped. Her hair was loose on her shoulders and she’d changed into joggers and a giant sweatshirt with Underestimate Me… That’ll Be Funprinted across her chest above the giant roundness of her baby bump.

He’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life as Kenzie standing in that open doorway, the light behind her creating a halo around all that white-gold hair.

“Hi,” he said, because he hadn’t summoned the forethought to think of something better. “Can I…come in?”

She studied his face. He waited for her to sayFinnin a regretful, why-are-you-here? kind of way—or even go so far as to shut the door on him.

But a miracle happened. She stepped back and gestured him forward. He was over that threshold in an instant. She shut the door behind him as both Tom and Ed darted in from the dining room.

“Hey, guys.” They came right for him. He bent and scooped them up. Ed purred in his left ear, Tom in his right.

All of a sudden, he felt better about everything. Because, hey. She’d shut the door with him on the inside of it. And at least Tom and Ed seemed glad to see him.

As for Kenzie, who could tell? She just stood there watching him through wary eyes, no doubt waiting for him to get on with whatever he’d come here for.

Crouching, he released the kittens. They bounded off through the arch that led to Kenzie’s home office and the stairs.

He tried to think of a really good opening line. Too bad his mind was blank as a sheet of white paper. He hadn’t prepared and he felt like the fool he was.

Kenzie took pity on him then. “Coffee?”

“No.”

“Then…?”

“I need to tell you…”

“What?”

“That I…love you. Only you. That there was never anyone but you, not really, not in my heart.”

She gulped. “You mean that?”

“I do. I always did. I always will. Kenzie, I loved you so much way back then—loved you more than anything. I never should have left you.”

She took a step closer, laid her smooth hand against his cheek. His whole body burned at that touch. “That was then. Forget about then. It’s gone. Let’s just talk about now.”

He caught that soft hand of hers and pressed a kiss into the center of her palm. “All the things I said last Saturday morning, I meant them, all of them. I want you and I want the baby. I want what I walked away from all those years ago—a life with you, the forever kind. I want a home with you, a future with youandwith the baby—hell, with Tom and Ed, too… All of it. I want more kids later if that works for you. We can talk about that—I mean, if any of it is even possible, if you think that you might just maybe be able to love me, too.”

“Oh, Finn…”

He was still on his feet. Should he be on his feet?

No, he should not.

He dropped to one knee right there in front of her, then swept off his hat and pressed it to his heart. But it was just in the way there, so he tossed it over his shoulder.

She stifled a laugh. “Finn, what in the…?”

“Kenzie.” He still had her hand, so he pressed his lips to it. And then he said, “I am so in love with you I can’t see straight. The truth is, I always have been, ever since that first day I walked you home freshman year. I was in love with you when we were fourteen and I never stopped. And Kenzie, if you can see your way clear to giving me one more chance, I swear on my life, on all that I hold dear, that I will never let you down again.”

Kenzie swallowed. Hard. “Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, Finn.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I love you, too.”