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“Did three ghosts come for a visit?”
“In a way, yeah. These past few weeks I’ve seen my past and my present, and neither was very…pleasing. But last night, as I stood in my cousin’s hotel room, I saw my future…and I didn’t like the way it looked. It was cold, loveless, and most importantly, Mary Paige–less. I don’t want to live that life. I really, really don’t.”
She studied him, her heart kick-starting a little, even as her mind reminded her he’d so easily set her aside. “You hurt me.”
“I know I did, and I wish I hadn’t. I do, Mary Paige. I wish I had been as strong as you, as outraged as you, but past hurts clogged my vision. And you’ve been right all along—I’m scared, and my fear has made me a hard man.”
“But not irredeemable,” she said. “You are the only person who can change yourself.”
“But don’t you understand? I have changed. These past few weeks have opened my eyes to who I was. I wasn’t the worst person on the planet, but I wasn’t even close to being the best. I lived blind and you smacked me out of it. The thing is, Mary Paige, you sort of saved me from myself.”
“I’m not a miracle worker,” she said, crossing her arms and feeling a strong urge to make him see who she actually was. It was as though everyone held a misguided perception about her, and sheneededBrennan especially to know the real her. “Everyone acts like I’m some angel, like this whole Spirit thing was all I am. But I’m no angel. I’m a woman, flesh and blood, and I make mistakes, screw things up, fall down, and show an entire office my underwear. I once put Tabasco sauce on my dog’s tongue just to see what he’d do. I have an evil side, a mean side, a petty side. So don’t put me up on a pedestal and don’t treat me like some—”
She couldn’t talk anymore because he was kissing her, and in spite of the fact he’d broken her heart, it felt pretty dang amazing.
His hands slid over her face, cupping her jaw, bringing her to him as if he could drink from her…and she really dug the whole desperate-kiss thing. She was a sucker for romance, for sweet kisses on Christmas morning…for Brennan Henry.
He broke the kiss, pushing back her hair and looking deep into her eyes. “Thing is, Mary Paige, I know that already and it makes me love you all the more. You get it?”
She shook her head.
“Let me show you again.”
He kissed her again, and this time it wasn’t desperate. It was beautiful. As though all Brennan’s hopes, desires and dreams were poured into that one kiss. She didn’t feel it down to her toes this time. She felt it in her heart.
He pulled back. “You see now?”
“Huh?”
“Every time I think of you, my heart squeezes. I feel something every second I’m with you. I’ve never felt that before. Even when I’m mad at you, I want you with me. Like a bond. Like, I don’t know, like you are my person. Like God led you to me, and me to you because we needed each other.”
“Brennan,” she breathed, brushing his face with her hand, caressing him with her gaze. No one had ever said such things to her before. And not only said them, but also showed them. Emotion poured from this man who’d once been encased in ice.
“Say you’ll forgive me for being an asshole. Say you’ll come back to New Orleans and eat popcorn on my couch with me.”
“I do like popcorn,” she said, feeling something akin to awe flooding her, filling up all the corners of her heart. “But you’re going to have to do better. You’re going to have to practice trust and not jumping to conclusions. You’re going to also practice not always getting your way.”
“I can do that. And you have to practice not running and standing up to me.” He looked around the room. “And maybe you’ll marry me? Say you will. You complete me.”
“Marry you?” She took a few steps back. “I can’t marry you. We’ve only known each other for…not even two months.”
He dropped down onto his knee and yelped.
She looked over the side of the bed as he pulled the scissors from beneath his knee, grimacing as he tossed them aside.
“This is so not going as I planned,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ring.
“Oh, Jiminy,” she said, staring at the prefect, not-so-small diamond winking in the morning light. “This is crazy. Too soon. Too …crazy.”
“No, it’s not. When you meet the person who makes you want to be better, stronger, and kinder to not only others, but to yourself, you don’t want to waste a single second of time without her. I screwed up when I walked out of the room several nights ago, but I won’t ever walk away from you again. If I do, you have permission to pick up the nearest heavy object and brain me.”
Mary Paige stood there, grappling with reality of Brennan on his knee holding a big diamond. “Wha…uh, I don’t know what to say…”
“I love you. Marry me. Even if I’m sort of doing this Ebenezer Scrooge thing and it seems crazy…and I busted up your family Christmas with a weenie dog.”
Mary Paige pressed her lips together and tried to figure out why she should say no. She should say no. It was ridiculous to think that he was in love with her. But was it? Hadn’t she fallen for him? Didn’t she love him. “I love you, too.”
He smiled. “Good. I want to put this ring on your finger, but you’ve got to tell me if you want it. If you want me.”
