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“I did. Hungry?”
He licked his lips with a wolfish smile. “Starved.”
“Good, because there’s a lot of food.”
Ryan laughed. “Do I have time for a quick shower?”
“You do.”
“Alone?”
I smiled and nodded. “Yep.” There was another surprise under the robe and I wasn’t ready to give it away. Yet.
While Ryan showered, I set the table in the dining room he never used except when it was his turn to host a holiday, and turned the oven down to keep the casserole warm. I had a plan laid out for how I wanted the night to go, and it started with champagne.
And a conversation.
The living room was lit with just enough candles to give us a dim, romantic glow, the scent of roses and cinnamon permeated the air.
“Persephone.” Ryan’s deep growl startled a gasp out of me and I spun to face him.
“Ryan.” He wore nothing but a pair of gray pants that hung low on his hips and I licked my lips. “Nice outfit.”
“Thanks, I didn’t want to show up for dinner overdressed.”
“No risk of that now.” I wasn’t even sure I could get through what I had to say with his pecs and abs, and that trail to paradise on display. “Champagne?”
“Yeah, sure.” His expression was curious but filled with heat, hopeful but wary. “What is all this?”
“This,” I sighed, “is me. Making my move and telling you how I feel about you, Ryan.”
He smiled and took a sip of the pale gold liquid. “To laying it all out there.”
I took a small sip of champagne just to calm my rattled nerves, and then I took another because one sip wasn’t enough. A minute later the glass was empty and I sighed with a smile.
“You’re my best friend in the whole world, Ryan. You have been my biggest cheerleader, the strongest person I know, supporting me and pushing me when I didn’t think I could do it.”
He smiled. “You can do anything you set your mind to, Persephone.”
“I’m sorry that I never looked at you and saw the wonderful man you are, I only saw my friend. But when I look at you now, I see so much more. I see a kind and loving man who looks out for the people around him. A hot and sexy lover who plays my body like a guitar. I see a man so brave he was willing to risk it all, to risk our friendship because that’s how bad he wanted me.” I shook my head, still unable to believe anyone loved me like that. “Me.”
“You’re wonderful, Persephone. Absolute perfection.”
His words filled me with warmth that quickly turned to heat. Not just any old heat, either, the kind that was the blue part of the flame, so hot it could burn everything in its wake. “I’m not sure that’s true, Ryan, but I want to be the woman you see when you look at me. I want to spend the rest of my life, the rest of our lives, living up to the woman you think I am.”
“Persephone,” he growled and took a step forward.
I smiled. “Yes, Ryan, our life together. I love you too, so damn much.”
“Say it again.” He took another step forward, almost within touching distance.
I laughed and let my head fall back. “I said that I love you, Ryan. I am madly in love with you, my best friend. I can’t say when it happened, but being without you for those days while Ferguson was in town, made me realize just how much I cared about you.”
Ryan’s nostrils flared. “So you’re saying I have Ferguson to thank for this night?”
I laughed again. “In a way?”
“Thanks, Ferguson,” he growled in a grumpy tone that pulled another laugh from me. “Thank you for bringing the love of my life to the light.”
“The love of your life, huh?”
He nodded and took another step forward, running his fingers through my hair. “I loved you first as a friend and then somewhere along the way, I started to love you the way a man loves a woman. I’d say that qualifies you as the love of my life.”
“Ryan,” I sighed as tears started to burn my eyes. “That’s lovely.”
“That’s the truth,” he grunted and wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling my body flush against his before his mouth settled on mine. Slowly devouring my mouth, inch by inch, with a slow sweep of his tongue, a nibble here, a suck there. It was an intoxicating kiss and I leaned into him, letting him take my weight which he did with ease.
The smoke alarm sounded and I froze, jumping back with a shout. “Shit. Stay right here,” I told him and went to check on the casserole. Thankfully it was just some of the sauce that bubbled over the dish and onto the bottom of the oven. “Everything is all right,” I called out and stopped the awful sound of the alarm.
