AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He flashes me a sad smile. “I know you never cared about me staking my claim to you. But, Allie, I need to tell you how I feel. I need to show you. Lay it all on the line, and gamble like we did ten years ago in Vegas. And then I will walk away.”
“What will happen to us if we get back together?” I ask, my voice laced with pain.
“Let’s find out. All I ever wanted was to have you look at me the same way you did when I told you I loved you in Vegas. Babe, I’ve loved you from the moment I held you in California.”
“We were kids. What did we know about love?”
“You’re the one.”
“How do you know? How do you know this is going to last? I already lost my mom and the baby. I cannot lose you again.”
“You’re not going to because I never stopped loving you, and I know you haven’t either. This love is forever. Until they lay us in the ground.”
“It shouldn’t be like this, Rone.”
“What shouldn’t be like this?”
When I look at him, I know this is it, and I get mad as hell. “Loving you, you asshole! It shouldn’t be this hard. And yes, I love you. I love you! Are you happy now, you fucking bastard?” I scream the words right in his face.
He grins one of his earth-shattering smiles and I’m finally home. Because he loves me when I’m the one being a certified dick.
I smile, shaking my head and wiping away my tears. He holds out his arms and I fall into him, sobbing and clutching his shirt between my fists.
He kisses my forehead. “I’m never going to let you go again.”
I look up into his eyes, smiling when he wipes away my tears with trembling fingers.
His tears spill over. “I hoped you would find someone who wasn’t me to make you happy. You deserve it all.”
I stand on my tiptoes, kissing him, our tongues finding each other.
He pulls back before leaning his forehead against mine. “You deserve everything I didn’t give you then, but—”
I push my finger against his lips. “Will you shut up and let me speak?”
He nods, kissing my fingers before I run them through his hair. “I love you, Navarone. I do. I know I never stopped, and I’m sorry for being angry.”
He takes a shuddering breath.
“But I don’t know if I can ever give you ...” A sob escapes me and the tears stream down my face.
“Babe, we can’t know what the future holds,” he says, kissing my tears away.
“It hurts, not knowing if I can give you—a family.” I sob in his arms.
“Honey, don’t you get it by now? You are my family. What we have right here, right now in this moment, is all I ever want.”
“Us fighting?” I chuckle through my tears.
He grins. “I want you. I want to wake up next to you each morning. To go to bed each night in some faraway town when I’m on the road, knowing you’ll be here when I get home. I want you to yell at me. You can fucking hit me with your words for all I care, because I can take it, babe.”
I smile up at him and he brushes his thumb over my forehead, still holding me in his arms.
“I love you, crazy asshole,” I say, my voice soft.
Navarone kisses my forehead. His jaw clenches and a muscle ticks in his cheek, making him look ferocious and handsome as sin. “When the fucking lights go off onstage, this is the me you’re getting. Is that enough for you?”
“Yes,”—I hiccup—“you have always been enough. I love the man you are onstage, but I’m in love with the man you’re with me. You wear so many different masks. But, babe, I see everything you are, everything you try to hide. I see you and I love ... love every part of you. Even the broken parts you’re still piecing together. I love you so much it hurts.” I sniffle.
