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Lucy shook her head. “Gideon, you have to stop. If you want to see me, call me and say so yourself instead of trying to manipulate things into a perfect setup.” Now that she had him here, though, she was just glad she didn’t have to have this conversation over the phone. She lifted her chin. “And if you love me, you stay. You don’t choose the self-sacrificing route because you think you know what’s best for me. You sit down and have a damn conversation where we talk it out.”
His smile wasn’t all that happy. “I fucked up.”
“Yes, you did.” She wasn’t about to let him off easily, no matter how much she wanted to cross the distance between them and feel his strong arms wrap around her.
“I’m sorry. There’s no good reason to explain why I freaked out, but guilt makes people do crazy things—like walk away from the woman they love because they think it’s what’s best for her.”
“I decide what’s best for me.”
His dark eyes took on a tinge of sorrow. “I know. And we both know that I don’t deserve to kiss the ground you walk on. Not because I love some idealized version of you, but because you’re you. You’re a good person, Lucy. The best kind of person. You are funny and kind and sexy as fuck, and I might not deserve you...” He took a step forward and then another. “No, I know I don’t deserve you.”
“Stop saying that,” she whispered.
“Maybe we both fucked up. Fear makes for all kinds of mistakes, and what we have between us is wildfire.” Gideon stopped in front of her and went down on one knee. “But, Lucy, I’d gladly spend the rest of my life burning for you.” He withdrew a ring box from the inner pocket of his suit jacket. “I love you. I’ve loved you for six goddamn years, and I convinced myself that the right thing to do was to stand back and let you be with someone you deserved. I fought every single damn day not to pull some underhanded shit and steal you from that douche.”
She reached out with shaking hands and touched the ring box. “Gideon—”
“I know you wanted a safe and pat marriage to some guy you don’t give two fucks about. I can’t offer you that, Lucy. But I can offer you a husband who will love you beyond all reason, even if he occasionally screws up. I can offer you a safe harbor, a full life and more sex than you know what to do with. I am offering you that.”
She couldn’t catch her breath. In all the scenarios she’d played out over the last few days, she’d never once imagined Gideon, down on one knee, offering her everything she’d spent two years being too terrified to admit she wanted. “Gideon.”
“Yes?” He didn’t look scared while he waited for her answer. He looked totally and completely at peace for the first time in as long as she could remember. As if he was exactly where he wanted to be—where he was meant to be.
Lucy stepped forward and tangled her fingers in his hair. “Steal me.”
His dark eyes went wide. “That’s a yes.”
It wasn’t a question but she answered anyway. “That’s a hell yes.”
He gave a whoop and shot to his feet, sweeping her off hers in the process. “I love the shit out of you, Lucy. I’ll spend the rest of our life making up for six years of missed opportunity.”
She kissed him with everything she had. “Maybe it was good that it took us six years to get here and more than a few missteps along the way. There’s a right time and place. This is our time and our place.” Lucy kissed him again. “I love you, Gideon. So, so much.”
He stepped back enough to slip the ring out of the box and onto her finger. It was...perfect. The simple silver ban framed a princess-cut diamond that was big enough to have her shooting a look at him. “Wow.”
“Funny, that’s what I say every time I see you.” He pulled her back into his arms. “Wow. This woman is mine. And I’m hers.”
“Yes and yes and yes.” She smiled up at him. “Always.”
Make Me Need
Katee Robert
In this red-hot scorcher from New York Times bestselling author Katee Robert, Trish Livingston meets her unlikely match in her brother’s best friend, the gorgeous Cameron O’Clery. They’re complete opposites—but that only makes the temptation hotter!
Trish Livingston desperately needs cash, so when her brother offers her a job while he’s on paternity leave, she snaps it up. She’s even willing to put up with his best friend and business partner, the notoriously grumpy Cameron O’Clery—especially when she finds out he’s very easy on the eyes.
Cameron hates people: especially peppy, happy people like Trish. He avoids her at all costs, until a raunchy late-night encounter in an elevator shows him that there’s a fine line between hate and lust. Cameron knows he’s broken the rules—and is resolved to keep his distance from her.
