She pulled me closer to her, her finger stroking through my hair. She smiled before pressing her lips lightly against mine. “Good. I plan on doing it often.”
As if to prove her point, she kissed me again and again before giving my lower lip a final nibble. Then she lifted her head. “We should go inside now. I think there have been enough public displays of affection today.”
“Totally your fault,” I teased but took her hand as we walked in.
She stopped just inside the doors, surveying the space with a new kind of interest. Looking at me over her shoulder, she raised a questioning eyebrow. “Is this where my desk would go?”
“Your desk can go wherever you want it, but I can show you the plans we’ve had drawn up for the floor layout. We’ll take any suggestion you have, except that Hunter’s insisting on a ‘Gone Fishing’ sign for the door.”
She laughed and inclined her head. “Duly noted. Let’s go eat upstairs and we can look over the plans while we eat. I’d love to help wherever I can.”
“You’ll help just by being here.” I swept an arm out in the direction of the stairs and motioned for her to precede me. “People will line up around the block just to see that face welcoming them.”
“You and your lines.” She laughed again, and the sound seemed freer than it had before. I was starting to realize that the more I heard her laugh, the more I noticed the nuances there were to it.
I supposed everyone had different laughs, but she was the first person I’d ever really bothered to notice. Then again, there wasn’t much I didn’t notice about her.
I wanted to hear that laugh for the rest of my life, and even then, it would never be enough. So man up and tell her that.
April fished the tacos out of the bag when we sat down in the office, but all I could think about was how to tell her what I needed to.
After a minute when I still hadn’t sat down, she frowned at me. “Are you okay? You have a really weird expression on your face right now.”
“I’m fine.” I closed the distance between us and sank down to my knees in front of her, capturing her face between my hands as I decided to just go for it. “I was just wondering how to go about telling you that I love you.”
Those startling green eyes flew wide open as they studied mine. While I hadn’t been expecting her to say it back to me, I definitely didn’t expect the taco she suddenly shoved into my mouth.
I was so surprised that I laughed while I chewed and swallowed, but then she took me by surprise again when she slid off the couch to join me on her knees on the floor after setting the rest of the taco aside. “Are you still hungry?”
“What?” I frowned, utterly confused. “No. Why?”
“Good. Neither am I.” She shuffled as close to me as she could get, flung her arms around my neck, and brought her lips to mine in a kiss that told me she felt the same way.
Chapter 38
APRIL
He loves me? That couldn’t be right, could it? I’d known for a while that I was falling for him, but I really hadn’t expected that he felt the same way.
He did, though. I could question it, or I could accept the truth that had been in his eyes and his voice when he said it.
He loves me. My heart soared in my chest as I thought about the incredible man I was kissing. I should’ve said it back, but I was too overwhelmed to do anything except to get as close to him as I possibly could.
Part of me still felt like this had to be yet another dream about him, but the rhythmic beating of his heart against my chest and the feel of his firm lips beneath mine convinced me that it wasn’t.
The kiss was sweet and soft at first, like he was welcoming me home after missing me for seventy years apart. Like he was trying to fuse our souls together. Honestly, I thought he was succeeding.
I warmed up from head to toe, inside and out. This kiss was a branding, but it was coming from both sides. It felt like a new beginning and the end of a chapter all at the same time. Whatever happened after this, we wouldn’t emerge as the same