Who's the Boss? - Erin McCarthy Page 0,65

You take my breath away.”

I was never one to fall for a line and I’d never thought of myself as particularly beautiful. I was too pragmatic to be soft and feminine and that was how I had been raised to think of beauty. But in that moment, staring up at Sean in my darkening apartment, I believed him. He thought I was beautiful for reasons that had nothing to do with my unwillingness to wear makeup or to dress in pink. He thought I was beautiful and he respected me. The real me. The stubborn, hard-working, tell-it-like-it-is me.

Maybe that’s why I had never fallen in love before. I had earned respect from colleagues but I didn’t think until then I’d ever dated someone who really liked and respected all the facets of me.

I realized right then that I did love Sean. I had fallen completely and totally in love with him. The only man who seemed to truly understand me.

Then I did the most un-Isla-like thing ever.

I started crying.

Not just liquid gathering in the corner of my eyes, blurring my vision. But real tears, hot damp tears, that flowed down my cheeks and rolled onto my shoulders.

For the first time in thirteen years, my emotions swelled and poured out and I cried.

Sean’s face almost made me laugh. He looked both horrified and terrified.

My throat felt constricted but I had to tell him what I was feeling.

I loved Sean.

Holy shit, I’d never made a woman cry with a compliment before. I had no idea why Isla had tears streaming down her face and I eased myself down onto the bed beside her, pulling her closer to me. Wanting to reassure her, comfort her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her, wiping away first one tear, then the other.

“I love you,” she whispered. It sounded like she was going to choke on the words.

My first thought was elation that she felt the same way that I did, but then that still didn’t explain why she was crying. Her response was concerning and I didn’t want her to feel like she was obligated to say it back to me given what I had said to her earlier. I hadn’t said it directly, just in so many words, but maybe even that had freaked her out.

“You don’t have to say that if you don’t want to. You’re not obligated.” I trailed off, unsure of what to say or how she was feeling. I searched her face, stroking her hair. “I had no expectations or intention of pressuring you. I just wanted you to know how I feel.”

But she shook her head. “No. I do have to say it. Because that’s how I feel too and for some reason that’s making me cry.” She blinked and took a deep breath. “I love you.”

Well, what do you know. Isla loved me. Me. The guy who never thought he’d find a happily ever after. Hell, even a happily for now. And to have it with a woman like Isla, who was strong as hell and knew her mind? That made it all the fucking better. “That’s amazing. You’ve made me really happy. And it’s okay to cry when you feel emotional, you know.”

“I haven’t cried since my parents’ funeral. Now today I have twice. This is humiliating.”

That made my gut tighten up. Damn. She really did love me. How the hell did I get so lucky?

“The first time didn’t count,” I told her, brushing my lips over her hair. “You just teared up, but you didn’t full-on cry.”

Isla gave a watery laugh. “Thanks, that’s very reassuring.”

I ran my fingers down her arm and found her hand, to entwine it with mine. “In all seriousness, I love you, too. I wasn’t looking to fall in love, and there you were, rolling your eyes at me and stomping your feet.”

“I have never once stomped my feet.” She rolled her eyes.

I smiled. “See? There it is. The eye-rolling I fell in love with. You challenge me, and I like that. I think we can be amazing together, Isla the Intimidator.”

She bit her bottom lip and gazed at me from under her eyelashes. Her rich brown eyes were filled with love and desire. “I think we can too.”

Then Isla being Isla, she unzipped my pants.

She’d just revealed a lot of herself to me. I knew her well enough to know she was going to need to retreat from that raw emotion just a little. She was in luck, because avoiding deep emotions was a