She let out a little laugh and raised up on tiptoe to kiss him. When he stopped talking and clung to her hips, she pulled back. “Okay, now that I’ve distracted you…slow down. I can barely understand you, and I have a feeling I don’t want to miss this.”
“I’ll try, but I feel like I’ve been waiting all of my life to say these words. Waiting to tell you how I really feel, and now I can. I can finally tell you.” He cradled her face in his hands, his thumb caressing her jawline. “From now on, I can’t accept anything but all of you, and in return I promise to give you all of me. Before this weekend, I didn’t think I knew what love was, but you showed me—and the funny thing is I’ve known all along.”
Anna grabbed his arms, blinking up at him with love shining from her bright eyes. It was something he’d never forget or take for granted. The way she looked at him. “You did?”
“I did. I think I’ve loved you since you fell out of that tree all those years ago.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead, smiling down at her once he drew back, his heart pounding hard enough to crack a fucking rib. “You loved me all our childhood. Every time you defended me, or spent the afternoon with me, or climbed up a tree for me—that was love. What I felt here, for you”—he touched his heart—“was love.” He let go of her and paced. “I finally realized I loved you after our time at the beach. It’s why I pulled back for some space. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t jumping into things too fast. I wanted it to be perfect.”
“Being with you is perfect,” she said, smiling at him through tears.
He lifted her in his arms, and she clung to his neck, hanging on tightly. “I want you to know, without a doubt, that you are the love of my life. You are my only love, and have always been my only love. I was an idiot to deny it for as long as I have, but I won’t anymore. I won’t take you for granted for another second. I love you.”
She curled her fingers into his shoulders, tears making her gray eyes even more beautiful than ever before—which was saying a hell of a lot. “I love you, too.”
Shock, joy, and hope—so much fucking hope—crashed through him at warp speed. “You do?” he asked hesitantly.
“I do,” she said, nodding. “So much it hurts sometimes.”
Happiness blurred his vision, and he hugged her to his chest as hard as he dared without hurting her. Because he would never hurt her again. “Then I’ll make sure to kiss away the pain.” He kissed her gently, his lips barely brushing hers, and whispered, “Every time it hurts, just come to me for help, and I’ll make it stop.”
“It hurts now,” she said quickly, tilting her face up to his.
“Then I’ll fix it.” He closed his lips over hers without hesitation, lowering her to the bed. He slid his tongue inside her mouth, and she clung to him. When she let out a sexy moan, he groaned and ran his fingers up her leg, sliding under her skirt without any hesitation. He closed his hand on her mound, pressing the heel of his palm to her center, and deepened the kiss. Her skin was hot under her satin panties, and she arched against him, rolling her hips. His body hardened with need, and he tore free of her mouth with a curse. “Christ, you’re going to kill me. You’re so damn wet.”
“I know.” She shoved his tux jacket off his shoulders and jerked at the buttons of his shirt. “That’s because I need you now.”
He growled and ripped his shirt all the way off, buttons flying in every direction, but he didn’t give a damn. He had a lot of shirts, but only one Anna Hamilton.
He was out of his pants in record speed, and her eyes wandered over his body, taking in every last detail until she focused on his stomach…
She gasped and touched his skin gently—so gently he almost didn’t feel it. “What happened to your chest and stomach?”
“Huh?” He looked down at his body and then back at her. “Oh. That. Your brothers happened. I already told you about that.”
“They did that to you?” Anna’s face flushed red, and she pressed her lips into a thin line. “Oh. My. God. I’ll kill them.”
She lunged out of the bed and ran straight for the door so fast it took him a good three seconds to register she’d even moved. As soon as it did register, he cursed and leaped out of the bed after her. He caught her as her hand closed over the knob, and she cried out in anger. “Don’t leave me now, Twinkletoes. Not after we just found each other. I promise you, I’m fine.”