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“I would love that,” I whisper to him, scared to use my voice. My eyes are welling, even though I have shed thousands of tears this week.
“I know,” he says, smiling. “I also told her that I was moving you in with me. She told me to tell you that if you need anything to call her. If I am not the man you need me to be, she will always be there to support you. I programmed her number into your phone so you can call her whenever you want to. She also suggested we make a trip back out to Philly for dinner with her and her family soon.” I need to take a slow breath in.
This is a new life for me. A new opportunity. Slowly, I am cutting ties with my old life. Now all I need to do is step into the new one and embrace it all. In my new home, with my new wardrobe, but most of all, with my new man.
“I also got you these… Actually, I stocked the kitchen with them,” Eddie says, almost laughing at himself. I take a step closer to the bed and grab the box. It is a box of the delicious cookies from the baskets at Harborside.
“Oh I love these!” I have been dreaming of these cookies for weeks, having devoured the three boxes I got almost immediately.
“Yeah, I thought so. I noticed the other boxes were the first to go in your apartment, so I ordered a heap of them. Now they are all in the kitchen for you whenever you want them,” he says, smiling at my reaction.
“I am going to put on so much weight. These are seriously so addictive." I open the box and put my nose to it, wanting to eat one.
His eyes twinkle, and I think I swoon a little. Putting the box back down on the bed, I take a few steps closer to him and run my hands up his arms.
“Thank you, Eddie. For the clothes, for the phone, for the cookies… but really, for everything.” He has done so much for me, it feels like my words are not enough. I can’t begin to express my gratitude. He looks at me, and I feel his arms warm on my body as they circle around my waist. My hands sink into the familiar place at his neck as we lean on each other.
“You know, I am pretty sure I fell in love with you the minute you opened that door with wet hair and a wet t-shirt. Then, when you patched me up when I almost died fixing that cupboard at Harborside, I knew you were someone special…” he says, giving me a cheeky grin.
“Oh my God, you were not dying, Eddie,” I grumble playfully, rolling my eyes at his dramatics.
“Then when you turned up at the swimming pool, wearing that sexy one piece, your hair piled on your head, with those sexy tattoos showing, I knew I was utterly and totally yours,” he says, and my grin falters at his sincerity.
“Eddie…” I whisper. God, why does this man make me want to cry all the time? Just when I thought my heart couldn’t get any fuller, he keeps giving me more.
“I am utterly and totally in love with you, Katie Taylor.” I stop breathing. My lungs don’t move. They are frozen, as is my body, and I still in his arms. No one has ever said those words to me.
“What?” I whisper, my eyes searching his. I feel like I am in an alternative life at the moment.
“I said, I am utterly and totally in love with you,” he says, smiling, like a kid in a candy store. His hand rubs up and down my back, soothing me, and I feel my head and heart reconnecting.
“I didn’t think I was made for love, Eddie. I didn’t think that I would be so lucky to experience it. In any way. The life I have lived is not one that comes with that kind of emotion. But you… you make me feel like I am worthy. Like I am deserving. Like I matter…” I say, trying hard not to cry.
“You do matter. You matter a lot,” he says.
“I know that. I know my worth. I know that I am strong and capable. I have had to be. But I didn’t think anyone else did… until you,” I say honestly, because deep down, I always believed that I mattered. I always believed there was more for me, but I always felt invisible until Eddie came along. “I love you, Eddie. From the tips of my toes to the top of my head. I give all of me to you, including my heart. It is yours,” I whisper.
“I will protect it with everything I am and everything I have.” He is committing himself to me. Engraving his words on my chest. I feel it scorch into my skin, never being this sure of anything or anyone before in my life.
I push up on my tiptoes and kiss him. My hands run up his arms, around his neck, and I pull him to me. I put everything in my kiss, every emotion, every word I want to say, every feeling I have. His hands circle my waist, holding me tight as our lips part and our tongues tangle, his touch moving up my body, and I completely melt into him.
“I want you naked…” he grumbles against my lips, and I huff a laugh as his lips trail down my jaw. My head falls to the side as his hands coat up my body on the inside of my scrubs. I shiver then, the feeling of his hands on my skin sending waves of arousal through me, my body aching for his. The need I have is almost overwhelming.
“I want you naked too,” I say, just as his hands slide up, taking my top with them, straight over my head, and he throws it across the room.
“No problem,” he says, throwing his jacket off his shoulders and across the room to join my top, then making quick work of his shirt. As he does, I scoop my bra off my body, and we both take a moment to look at the other.
“You are so fucking beautiful.” His voice almost croaks, and I swallow, his words carrying meaning. I feel every one of them. His hand gently touches my shoulder, then he traces his fingers down my chest, his eyes watching intently. My nipple pebbles and my breathing quickens as his fingers trace my breast, and then coast down my stomach. His hand flattens, landing around my middle.
“Come here,” he says, almost growling, and he doesn’t even have to ask, because I move toward him naturally. Our naked torsos touch, heat running across my bare skin as his hands move down my lower back, underneath my scrubs and over my ass, taking the pants down with them.
“Bossy much?” I tease as he pushes the pants down my legs. I step out of them, standing in nothing but my very basic cotton underwear.
“Yes. Now come here.” Cupping my head, he pulls me toward him again, and we ignite.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE - EDDIE
Ismash my lips to hers, barely containing my desire. I meant every word I said. My love for her, how fucking beautiful she is. Everything. This woman had me from the moment we met, and after everything we have endured since, there is nothing I want more than to make her mine.
