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Her head began to lower but he placed a finger under her chin and drew her face inexorably up to his. ‘But not with you, agape mou. Never with you. I’m furious with myself for wasting so much time!’ he rasped out throatily. ‘I know I have a problem with PTSD, and I’ll get help for that. I might never be the man you deserve but, so help me, I’ll do whatever it takes, so long as you take me back?’
She blinked in shock as she stared at him. ‘Did I ever really have you?’
The shaky laugh dragged from her throat cut off abruptly as she encountered the hard, hungry, slightly unfocused look in his stare.
‘From that first moment I met you, I think, but I was too stupid, too much of a stubborn, proud fool to realise it.’ He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘I really don’t have any pride left, Chloe, and there hasn’t been a day gone by since that morning in Greece that I haven’t hated myself for making you think I was ashamed of your scars.’
She put up a hand and cupped his cheek. ‘I see now that wasn’t the case.’
‘It’s my scars I’m ashamed of,’ he admitted heavily. ‘Everything you said to me that morning was absolutely right. I knew it then, but I just couldn’t admit it. Now I’m asking you to take me, Chloe, scars and all, for better or for worse... I love you, agape mou, and I need you.’
He took a deep shuddering breath. ‘I know I walked away from you—twice—but I promise that will not happen ever again. Let me into your life and I will always let you be you. I don’t want to stifle you. I want to watch you fly.’
With a little sigh, she laid her head on his chest, her eyes squeezing shut as she felt his strong arms close around her. She stood there listening to the thud of his heartbeat, feeling the weeks of loneliness slip away.
Finally she lifted her head. ‘I love you too, Nik.’
The kiss he gave her went on and on, his hungry passion leaving her feeling limp yet very happy when they finally came up for air.
She stroked his face lovingly. ‘I feel as though a weight has been lifted from me the last few weeks.’
He took her face between his hands. ‘I love you, I love every part of you, and, yes, I admit I did want you to reconsider the plastic surgery, but not,’ he emphasised, ‘for me. For you...’
‘I realise that now,’ she admitted.
‘I don’t know if you’ve fully considered this,’ he began tentatively, ‘but what you did tonight will make you the target of—’
‘Internet trolls and other low-life, yes, I know.’ She dismissed them with an impatient click of her fingers.
It took a few moments for the information to filter through to his brain...but when it did his hands fell from her face in astonishment.
‘Of course I know that; I’d need to live on Mars not to know,’ she said with a rueful smile.
‘And you still did it.’ He shook his head and gave a laugh. ‘You really are the most incredible woman,’ he declared with husky pride.
‘Is there stuff out there already?’
He nodded.
‘We’re not going to read it,’ she declared.
‘I think that is a good move.’
He cleared his throat.
‘Nik, why are you looking shifty?’ she demanded.
Without a word he picked up his phone, scrolled down the screen and handed it to her. ‘There are some other things out there you should probably know about.’
With a puzzled frown Chloe took it and began to read, her expression changing from bemusement to anger as she progressed. ‘Oh, my God, who did this? Do you know who the source is? It has to be someone close to you to know all these details. It’s a gross invasion of privacy!’ she declared indignantly.
‘Me!’
Her eyes flew wide. It made no sense. Nik was an intensely private person so why would he feed this story about himself to a journalist? ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I gave this story, this evening. You made me so proud tonight, seeing how courageous you were, not hiding in any sense of the word... You were marvellous and it made me feel completely ashamed of myself. You were right: I’ve been hiding like a coward. Your name is going to be out there all over the media, and I knew I couldn’t stop that, but I could show some solidarity so... I decided to join you and—who knows?—reading about what happened to me might even help someone else. I’m definitely going to do something about it, I promise you.’
‘I know you will.’
