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“But, Shell—”
She pressed a finger over his lips. “Whatever you’re going to say. Don’t.
You don’t get to make the call on my feelings. I do. My life, my body, my heart. My choice.” He could see that she wasn’t holding anything back from him now as she said, “And I choose you.”
“Shelley…”
“No,” she whispered, as crackles and booms sounded in the distance. Bright sparks of blue, greens, and white reflected in her eyes as fireworks exploded above the bay. “You make me feel things I’ve never felt before. Yes, you messed up. Twice. Well, we’ll call it one and a half times, because ten minutes hardly counts. But I don’t believe for one second that you’re destined to hurt me, Quinn. And I’ve met your grandfather, so I know for a fact that even if you do share some of the same qualities, you’re not just like him, and you never could be. But I also believe that beneath that gruff old man is a softer, kinder heart, so maybe you are alike in ways that he just hasn’t shown us yet.”
“Shell…how can you be so positive and so forgiving?” Forcing her to take an honest look at what he’d done was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
“Stop it. Just stop and pretend for a second that you’re not Quinn Rockwell. Pretend that you’re just Quinn. Because the Quinn that I’m getting to know, the Quinn who’s seeping deeper and deeper into my thoughts and my heart, is a guy who got caught up in the whirlwind of success. He’s a guy who earns the respect of everyone who meets him and built a hugely successful business. Yeah, I Googled you. I know all about your shipping empire. You should be proud of that empire, Quinn, but you’re not the company. And you might have fallen into a pattern of work being your life…”
She reached for his hands as the lights of the fireworks showered them in hues of color. Her eyes softened, and her voice followed. “But I’ve seen so much of the man inside. You’re funny, and caring, and I know that if you let me down, even by just ten minutes, you feel it all the way from your head to your toes. If you think I don’t see that in your eyes, or feel it coming off of you in waves, you’re wrong. Selfish men don’t watch the sunrise or leave flowers on women’s doorsteps. They don’t leave hangover remedies for a woman they just met. They don’t carry a woman to bed and not take advantage of her. I’m sure you left work undone to be here tonight, didn’t you?”
When he nodded, she said, “Selfish men don’t do that, either.”
“How can you have such faith in me?” He touched his forehead to hers, wanting desperately to believe what she was saying.
“Because you’re a good man, Quinn. A wonderful man. And you’re trying. Trying to make changes for the better. Trying not to be consumed with work all the time. Trying to think up ways to make me smile every day. Maybe you don’t recognize that. I don’t know how you can’t, but I see it. I see it in your eyes, feel it in your touch. I always have, right from the first moment you picked me up and carried me out of the water. Naked, I might add,” she said with that wicked glint in her eyes that he loved so much.
He saw her faith in him in the trust in her eyes...and when he drew her in close, he felt it in the steady and sure beat of her heart.
“I’m falling for you, Shelley, and it scares me. Not because I’m afraid of falling. Hell, I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have met you. But because I don’t want to ever hurt you. Even by accident.”
“Then don’t. You control your life, Quinn, not anyone else.”
He knew she was right. And yet he sure didn’t feel like he’d been in control of his life lately. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of him, when all he wanted was Shelley. Which was why he felt compelled to add, “I don’t want to change you. I don’t want to turn you from the spontaneous, carefree woman you are into someone who’s tied down by my life. Tied down by me.”
“I’m too stubborn to let anyone ruin my fun. You’ve made my days better—and my nights sexier—than I ever could have imagined. I’m falling for you, too, Quinn. And,” she added with a gorgeously naughty smile that heated up every place he’d ever felt cold, “there’s only one way I’ll ever let you tie me down. And believe me, when you do, we’re both going to love it.”
“Shelley…” Her name came in a whisper of relief. “What I want more than anything is to keep seeing you. More of you. Wherever you are and wherever I am, I want to figure out a way to make it work.”
