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“It has perks?” His gaze moves over me, and a tiny spark of flame flares in me.
“Yes.” I take half a step. Then another, so we’re really close. “I think I told you about the family motto—Vic’s motto. ‘Through the flames, life will thrive, or it will die.’ I think I finally worked out the meaning. Love is flame, and life is finding and going for that love, death is denying it, and just going through the motions of life.”
“Princess?” he says this softly like he’s waiting. Like he doesn’t want to destroy the moment that hangs on delicate thread.
I put my hand on his chest where his heart is, and beneath my palm is the fast thump of it as we talk. “I want love, Mack. With you. Or the chance of it. So I want to buy your cabin if you’re my perk.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I was wrong, Mack. I don’t think it’s a cage you have, it’s a haven. I was scared. I still am, but I’m in love with you. I’m so in love with you that I had to let you know. If you don’t want me or love me, then so be it. I—”
“Princess.”
Mack takes my hand and kisses my palm, then he pulls me into his arms and kisses me. Feathery, enticing kisses that are soft and full of all the promises. Then the kiss deepens and hardens, and my toes curl as our tongues dance and mate. I revel in him, in how perfectly we fit. Finally, the kiss softens into dreamy, and I’m floating, lost in him.
Mack raises his head but doesn’t let me go.
“I was coming for you, Princess. Got this bag in case you’d hit the road.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “Not to collect you. Unless you wanted that. But to let you know, I was, am, always will be stupidly in love with you. Brilliantly, I guess, since it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“It’s pretty smart,” I say, trying not to smile.
“Yeah. I wanted to tell you so you could make an educated decision. And know you had a future, if you wanted one, with me. Because I do love you. I don’t think I’d have fucked up like I did if it wasn’t love.”
“Mack?”
“Yes, Princess?”
“Will you be my knight?”
He laughs and hugs me close. “Everyone knows a princess needs a knight, but I have stipulations. I’m kinda traditional.”
“And if I’m not?”
“I’ll wait. Maybe it’ll come in old age, your traditional side, though meeting Vic, I won’t hold my breath. I’ll always hold you, though.”
“So if I didn’t want ever to get married you’d be fine?”
He looks at me. “Yeah, I think I would. It’s just paper, and there’s more to life than that.”
I breathe in. He’s definitely the type to want to put a ring on someone he loves. I can see it, feel it. Just like I utterly know he won’t and would be fine with that for me.
That is worth about a billion dollars.
“As long as you love me, I’m fine with it. I might insist on living in the same place. Or, if we have two, we split our time because I’m gonna be wanting a lot of sex. I love fucking you. I love holding you. I love sleeping with you. Talking. Fighting not so much, but make-up sex has a lot going for it. And I’ll even let you help me fight the fuckin’ space cats.”
I laugh, I can’t help it. “There’s no one like you, Mack. You’re amazing.”
He kisses me again. “No, sweet Sidney, you are. Knew it when I first saw you. Thought you were fuckin’ beautiful. I’d go through a thousand fires for you.”
“One was enough.”
“So . . .” He pushes my glasses up my nose. “You’re staying?”
“Mack, I was thinking I could make exceptions to my non-traditional ways.”
He considers me. “How so?”
“I think you should ask me.”
