out of things. On the one hand, London offers steadiness, confidence, security. You…you tantalize me with what ifs…about us, about what there might be. You make me think, and question…everything really. My life, my passions, what I really want. You make me question if playing it safe and just staying on the path that offers me security, if not personal fulfillment, is really what I want from my life.” She looked at him, into those eyes that were so steady, at a man who was clearly willing to offer her the place and time to try to find answers to some of her questions. If she was only brave enough to try. “The time I carved out for myself to come here and resolve things…isn’t long enough for me to resolve those bigger questions. And it’s scary, terrifying really, to think I’d have to literally jump from frying pan to fire, in order to give myself a chance to find out. I can’t go back and sit in my flat in London and figure out if what I really want is here in Virginia. If I want to try and find a way to pursue art…to pursue what might be with you, I’d have to stay here. No safety net.”
“I wish there was something I could say, or do, to make that easier for you.”
“I know.” She touched his face. “I know you really, truly mean that. But this is up to me. A true crossroads. And…I don’t know yet.” She sat her wineglass down and shifted onto her knees, touched his face. “I don’t know that it’s fair, and I want to be fair—”
“You’re being honest. That’s all I’ll ever ask.”
“I know enough to know that I don’t want to go upstairs and sleep alone. I want to be with you. Spend time with you. Learn whatever I can in the time I have, to help me figure things out. I don’t want to rush…and I don’t want to waste a single moment. Is that making any sense? I know it’s terribly selfish but it’s just the truth, and I—”
He cut her off by tugging her to him and kissing her. This time it wasn’t seductive, or soft, carnal, or sweet. This was a declaration, pure and simple. This was a man staking his claim. And he was claiming her.
And everything in her responded to that like the proverbial heavens were opening and the angels were singing. Kind of hard to be immune to that. Not when everything in her wanted to respond with equal passion, equal determination, to claim him as her own, too. To make it clear that she was putting the world on notice, that he was what she wanted, and damn anything or anyone who got in her way. In that moment, it was so crystal clear to her…if only all the moments that followed would also be so crystalline.
He shifted them around, lowering her to the floor.
“Sean, I can’t promise—”
“I didn’t ask for a promise. I don’t know what you’ll do tomorrow, or two weeks from tomorrow. What I do know is that I have you right now. And you have me. For this moment in time, I’m okay with that. I’m selfish, too, Holly. If this is what I can have, then I’m not walking away. Not willingly. You gave me a choice. I choose you.”
She pulled him down on top of her and shoved every last single doubt from her mind. No place for those tonight. Later. Much later, if she was lucky. For now, she was going to give in to what she was feeling, and show him that, give him that. She smiled. “I want this. I want you.”
His grin was so fierce, so…primal, it made her entire body quiver in response. “I know exactly where I want you, and it’s not on this rug.” He shifted back and scooped her up into his arms before she could react.
“Sean—”
“Come on, Goldilocks. I think you’ll find this bed is just right.”
The hallway, the stairs, all of it was a blur. Her heart was pounding, and it only increased when he lowered both of them into a sea of down comforters, pillows, and what had to be the most heavenly bed ever. Something of it must have shown in her expression.
“We Irish like our fine linen and feathers.”
“It’s a wonder you ever get out of it,” she said as he sank into the soft cloud with her.
The twinkle in his eye was