Hold Me Close - Talia Hibbert Page 0,118

hadn’t he? Only it didn’t feel like that. It felt like something that had been growing underground, a bulb unfurling throughout the seasons until it finally sprouted and bloomed.

“You know you can tell me the truth,” he said softly. “You don’t have to keep me happy. There are no consequences with me.”

Something in her seemed to relax. That was both satisfying and infuriating, because it only confirmed what he’d long suspected. But he wasn’t going to think about that—about the man in her past—right now. All he could focus on was her face, and the play of emotions flitting through her eyes like shadows over still water.

Finally, she whispered, “I did want to be single. Not just single—I wanted to be alone. I felt… I felt like I didn’t know myself anymore. Like I needed to get back to me again, so I could be better in time for…” She nodded down between their bodies, to the swell of her stomach. And, yeah, he knew. Better than she’d expect. Better than he’d ever expected.

He’d been feeling a similar urge, recently, to become the best man he could be.

“So I did want to be single.” She sucked in a shaking breath. “I just didn’t expect to find someone who’d make me feel more like myself than I have in years.”

His pleasure was hot and golden, shot through with a silvery promise that was just like her eyes. Her gaze was always so cool, but right now it felt molten. “Laura,” he murmured, “I want to be with you. And I know you have a lot more to risk than I do, but I wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t all in. I love you.” Now he’d said the words, he wondered how he’d ever managed to keep them in.

She squeezed her eyes shut—but not fast enough to stop a tear escaping, gliding down her cheek silently.

“Oh, angel, don’t cry.” Samir’s heart squeezed even as he bent his head to kiss the tear away. “Please don’t cry. I’m telling you because you should know, not because I need anything from you. I’m saying this because it’s true. I don’t want a thing in return.”

“I know you don’t,” she choked out. “I just—I don’t—you shouldn’t—”

“Shh. Let’s make a deal, okay? You don’t tell me I can’t love you, or I don’t love you, or I shouldn’t love you—”

“But I have so much—”

“Or that I can’t love the baby—”

Her eyes flew open. “You—?”

“Of course I love the baby. That’s why I’ve been working so hard to protect them from your horrible taste in names.”

She snorted out a laugh, then clapped a hand over her mouth. But as soon as her eyes met his, her embarrassment melted back into amusement. She laughed again.

She didn’t stop herself this time.

“So,” he said smugly as she giggled. “You don’t tell me who I can and can’t love, and in return…”

“Yes?” she asked innocently. “In return, what?”

Because she knew, the minx, that he hadn’t thought his bargain through. But he managed to think on his feet. “In return, I’ll put something Italian on the menu at Bianchi’s.”

She narrowed her eyes, considering. “Pizza. It has to be pizza.”

“Seriously? You want me to sell pizza at a cafe?”

“I said what I said.” She arched a brow.

“Fine! Pizza it is. Deal?”

A slow smile spread across her face as she said, “Deal.”

In that moment, with splotches of pink blooming across her tear-stained skin, and hesitant happiness lighting her up, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His chest hurt. Apparently, being hopelessly in love kind of felt like a heart attack.

God, Hassan was going to be so fucking smug about this. Although he’d been wrong about one thing: the way Samir loved Laura was nothing like the teenage adoration and attraction between them, no matter how deep that bond had been.

The way Samir loved Laura right now was deeper than anything he’d ever felt.

14

The sound of Samir brushing his teeth in the en-suite was both reassuring and terrifying.

Over the past few nights, Laura’s subconscious had come to associate that sound with a long, peaceful, dreamless sleep. The feel of Samir’s broad chest against her back, his slow, heavy breaths over her hair, his big hand resting on her belly like a shield, had become her anchor. But now…

Now, Samir thought he loved her. When he’d said it, her heart had cartwheeled around in her chest for a second. Then it had put its back out, twisted an ankle, and remembered that