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“Yes. It was time,” she added absently, much more interested in the emotions shifting across his expression. “Getting dosed was a real wake-up call. I don’t want to think that bastard pushed me out, because I’m not about to give him that much power over me. It just made me realize that I’m ready to move on, so I did.”
“You quit the party scene.” A brilliant smile lit his whole face even as his hold tightened on her until her bones creaked. “You did that for me?”
“Like I said, it was time. Not to mention, this podcast opportunity cropped up... and yes,” she sighed, looping her arms around his neck and settling against him. “I did it for you. For us. I’m not a party girl or a good-time fuck, and I need you to know this. So if this is what it takes for you to see me in a serious light—”
“Whoa, stop right there.” To make sure she did, he pressed a finger to her lips. “You need to get it through your head that after meeting you at Talon’s and Zenni’s wedding, I knew that whole good-time fuck image was all wrong. I know who you are, and I’m fucking enthralled by every last thing about you. You hear me?”
She nodded, wanting to believe him so much it hurt. “I hear you.”
“Even when I held you in my arms for the first time and you were fading in and out of consciousness, I knew you were something special. You were so damned determined to say what was on your mind.”
“I was?”
He nodded. “You were incredible, Hannah. There you were, more unconscious than conscious, yet you wouldn’t be denied saying your piece. I loved that, and I admired it like hell. Not even a roofie could knock out that fighting spirit of yours.”
“I remember... I think.” She frowned, trying to recall what it was that she’d needed to say. “I needed you to know that I wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong, and I just needed you to know so maybe you could do something about it.”
“From the moment I held you, I knew that was going to be my number-one role in life—taking care of you in such a way that you’d never again know what it was to worry or feel fear. You’d know your man was going to be right there to take care of everything that might give you trouble.”
“My man,” she repeated under her breath, the words tickling a faded memory.
I’m your man, now and forever.
The last doubt about how Dalton might view her dissolved, and her breath trickled down to nothing as she stared up at him. “You said, I’m your man, now and forever. You did say that, right? Please tell me you said that.”
“’Course I said it,” he said, nodding, and ran his hands down her back. “It’s the truth, yeah? I’m yours. You’re mine. This is as real a truth to me as the sun rising in the east. And just like that sunrise, this is a truth that’s never going to change. We belong together. We belong to each other.”
A giddy laugh escaped her before she surged up on her toes and pressed her mouth to his. Branding him as belonging to her. “I really hope you’re not going to have any regrets about this,” she whispered against his lips, laughing into his dark eyes. “Because the fact is you’ve done it now, pal. The moment you said you were my man, you sealed your fate. I’m never going to let you go.”
“Not even when I piss you off? Because that’s going to happen,” he warned, bumping his brow against hers in a roughly affectionate nuzzle. “We spark off each other like nobody’s business, and I’ll admit it—you make my inner caveman rampage to the forefront just by breathing. The way you look tonight, all slicked up and looking like a golden goddess, makes me want to blind every man here just for daring to glance your way.”
“That is definitely caveman-like,” she agreed, though a delighted thrill zipped through her. Her man truly wanted her for himself and only himself, and that was just the way she liked it. “And we do spark off each other, but I know why. It’s because we care so much about each other.”
“Care? Beautiful, look at me.” He waited until she did so, and she was surprised at the storm of emotion that met her gaze. “You care about your neighbors, or a pet goldfish. We don’t care about each other. Try again.”
“We love each other,” she whispered on a breathless rush, because she could feel it—the turning point where her life would never again be the same now that the words were out in the wild. “I love you, Dalton. I’m in love with you, and those are words I’ve never said to another human being. But I must love you, because I can’t imagine living in a world that didn’t have you in it. And... I think you feel the same... uh, maybe?”
“There’s no maybe about it.” It was his turn to crush his mouth against hers for a quick, hard kiss. “I’m so in love with you I think it’s driven me around the fucking bend. I didn’t even know love could do that to a person. I thought I knew all about it, but actually living in the heart of loving you, every minute of every day... Fuck me, it’s indescribable. The first time you smiled at me, I felt the beating of my heart for the first time in my life.”
A breathless laugh escaped her while her own heart took wing. “Really?”
“I can’t believe you sound so surprised,” he said, shaking his head. “You brought color and magic into my world. You made me look forward to the next day, because there was a possibility you’d be in it. I’m pissed as hell that I lived as long as I did without you in my life, but now that you’re here I’m going to make damn sure you stay with me. I don’t know how long forever is, but that’s how long you and I are going to be together. I can’t fucking exist without you, so yeah. It’s safe to say I’m in love with you.”
A happy sound burst from her before she flung herself into his arms, squeezing him as if she’d never let him go. She never wanted to, and now she never would.
This amazing man was hers, forever.
