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She was already scooping up the soup in large bites with low groans of pleasure. She paused long enough to butter a thick slab of bread she could dip into the rich chicken broth, but in a remarkably short amount of time she’d cleaned her bowl and eaten another slice of bread.
Taking a swig from her water bottle, Lia slumped back in her chair with a sigh. “Mmm. Just what I needed.”
Kaden shoved aside his empty bowl and studied her flushed face and sparkling eyes with a surge of approval. She looked like she did the day he walked into the store and first caught sight of her. Young and vibrant and capable of taking on the world.
“Thank God.”
He didn’t realize he’d spoken the words out loud until she arched a teasing brow. “Thank God for soup?”
He leaned toward her, his gaze sweeping over the delicate lines and curves of her face. Each one was seared into his mind. And into his heart.
“For seeing you healthy,” he rasped. “I’ve never been so afraid in my life.”
A faint smile curved her lips. “Kaden Vaughn is fearless.”
He grimaced. “That’s what I would have told you until I was driving to the hospital at a hundred miles an hour.” His hands instinctively clenched as the memory seared through his mind. Each second that ticked by had felt like an eternity. “I was certain my life was going to be over if I didn’t get you there in time.”
A flush stained her cheeks at the harsh intensity in his words. “Very Hollywood.”
“No,” he insisted. They both had a habit of deflecting their emotions with sarcasm and teasing. For once, he intended to plow through their mutual barriers. He reached out to grasp her hand, giving her fingers a squeeze. “I’ve never been more sincere. If something had happened to you, it would have destroyed a part of me.”
She stilled, meeting his steady gaze. “Why?”
Kaden’s lips twisted. She’d given him the opening he wanted. The question was whether he had the courage to take the leap.
He lifted her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss against the back of her fingers. “I can drive a motorcycle through a wall of flames and rebuild a motor with my eyes closed, but I don’t have any skill in sharing my emotions.”
The color staining her cheeks deepened. “Neither do I. We’re in trouble.”
Kaden sucked in a deep breath. “I’ll bumble my way through this first.”
“Okay.”
He threaded their fingers together, not giving himself time to think about his words. They would never be poetic or elegant. Which was fine. He wasn’t poetic or elegant. He was blunt, and honest, and rough around the edges.
“From the moment I saw you, I knew there was something different.”
She chuckled. “I believe that.”
He leaned closer, breathing in her familiar scent. “It was as if I suddenly found the one person I hadn’t even known I was searching for.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I wasn’t sure at first,” he admitted. “I came to Pike to discover what happened to Vanna, not to have my life turned upside down.”
“And now?”
“Now I have no doubts that you are the most astonishingly, outrageously fabulous thing that has ever happened to me.” He leaned even closer, smiling deep into her eyes. “And I don’t ever want to imagine a world without us together.”
She heaved a small sigh. “You’re not so bad at this emotional stuff, Kaden Vaughn.”
“Don’t tell my business partner. He’d never let me live it down.”
She reached up to cup his face in her hand. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Silence wrapped around them. The sort of warm, comfortable silence that was only possible between two people who relished each other’s company. But while Kaden could spend endless hours feeling Lia’s fingers lightly stroke his cheek as they leaned close together, he needed the reassurance that she shared his hopes for the future.
“It’s your turn,” he said in unexpectedly gruff tones.
