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“What if I’m never ready?”
A pained look lanced through his eyes, but his face stayed calm. “Then I don’t know what I’ll do. Because I’m in love with you.”
It was the second time I’d heard him talk about love, but this time, I couldn’t pretend the words weren’t true. He loved me. I loved him. So why the hell was this so hard? While my swirling thoughts tried to find somewhere to settle, I stared down at Callum’s expensive shoes, the toes lined up against the edge of the mat. He wouldn’t cross that line unless I told him he could.
Hewasn’tJason. I felt the distinction land in my chest, in my bones. Callum would never trap me the way Jason had. Strangely, tears sprang to my eyes. I wasn’t sure what they were for–maybe the realization of how deeply Jason’s claws had sunk into my soul and psyche. I’d so easily seen how Callum’s unresolved grief affected his life, but I hadn’t been able to even acknowledge my own.
“Hey,” Callum said softly. “What’s that about?”
I could tell he wanted to reach for me, but he kept his hands shoved in his pockets. He wasn’t going to cross the threshold until I invited him.
“I’m just–figuring things out.” I swiped at my cheeks and blew out a wavering breath. “Come in.”
Callum waited until I backed up, pulling the door wide open, before he stepped in.
I led him to the den and pointed to the sofa. He sat on it obligingly, and I took the armchair across from him.
“I’m in love with you, too,” I said, swiping back more tears. On the walk down the hall, I’d decided that there was no point in trying to play games with that. It was true, and he should know it. “But I’m scared. No, I’mterrified, Callum.”
Callum’s muscles twitched like he wanted to do something, but he didn’t know what. “Of me?”
“Of everything.” I looked down at my hands rather than at him. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t actually loveme, but you see me as someone you can protect like you couldn’t protect her,” I finished, refusing to let either of us take the easy way out.
Callum winced at the way I phrased it, but he shook his head vehemently. “I don’t conflate you with Emma, Quinn. Not in any way. Yes, I was thinking about her when I didn’t want you to leave in the storm, but it wasn’tabouther. It’s about you. Aside from Noah, you have become the most important person in my life. I don’t want to lose you.”
The hard shell that had grown up around my heart cracked a little. “There are other ways to lose someone than a car accident in the rain, Callum,” I said as gently as I could. “You can lose them by keeping too tight a grip.” I stood up and moved across the room to sit beside him on the sofa. He angled toward me, our knees nearly brushing.
“I know.” Callum looked at me steadily. “I’ve done it with Noah, and I did it with you. But I am learning. I want you, Quinn. However much of you I can have.”
The way he said that last part, with a hollow ring in his voice and a trace of sadness in his eyes, made me look at him closer. What did he mean byhowever much of you I can have?Did he think that I could give someone I loved any less than all of me? As I stared at him, I realized that he did.
“Callum,” I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. This was the most vulnerable I had ever been. “I’m in love with you.You can haveallof me. You just can’t try to control me. Not ever. I can’t live like that again.”
Emotions I couldn’t read complicated the expression on his face even as he looked at me steadily. “I’d never try to control you. But your career–I’d never ask you to stay in Waterford Village.”
“Good, because that would never happen.” I put my arms around him to soften the impact of my words. “But if it’s really me that you love, then you’ve got all of me, Callum.”
His green eyes met mine and sparked to life. “Do you mean that?”
“Do you really loveme?”
“With everything I’ve got.”
The simple, straightforward honesty in his voice went right to my heart and dismantled the last of the armor I’d put around it. I believed him. I trusted him.
“I love you with everything I’ve got, too,” I whispered, my voice beginning to shake. Callum finally reached for me, his fingertips grazing my face, framing it for a moment, and then his mouth came down on mine. The sparks that flew were even brighter than the first time we’d ever kissed. A shower of them that filled my bloodstream with glitter and shone a light on the long and winding path we’d taken to find each other.
We had a million things to figure out. Where we would live, for one thing. I wanted to raise Noah in a neighborhood full of people who looked out for each other rather than relying on hired patrol officers. I wanted him to have the wild woods and a treehouse. I wanted him to have Belmont Springs. There was also the ominous question of Jason Cain–but for once, thepossible answers didn’t scare me. Callum would be there beside me, protecting me like he always had. Letting me fly.
I kissed him, and I knew that I was finally home.
EPILOGUE
QUINN - SIX MONTHS LATER
Noah and I were in his room one afternoon, trying to figure out how to pack his Legos, when Callum came home unexpectedly early.
“I don’t think we should put them in boxes,” I was saying when we heard the sound of the front door open. “We’ll put them in the car and drive them over.”
