“She would’ve loved you,” he murmured, the damn emotions threatening to strangle him. “She would’ve loved you not only because I love you, but because you’re a kick-ass businesswoman.”
Stella laughed and closed the distance between them. Those tears swimming in her eyes threatened to spill at any moment.
“Say it again,” she demanded.
“I love you, Stella.” He smoothed her hair from her face, sliding his thumb along her bottom lip. “I thought I did before you found out who I was, but I was too afraid to admit it—I knew you’d eventually learn the truth and that it would ruin everything between us, so I tried to convince myself it wouldn’t wreck me to lose you. I want you to have this place. You may not be ready for marriage, but you deserve this.”
Stella fisted his hair and pulled his mouth to hers. Dane didn’t miss a chance to wrap his arms around her and pull her in. It had been too damn long.
When she broke the kiss and leaned back, her eyes shone bright with tears and her smile filled those cracks in his heart.
“I want the resort, but I want you, too,” she told him. “Do you think your mother would be on board with both of us running this? I’m not sure that marriage is our next step. We probably should slow down a bit so we don’t mess this up again, but that doesn’t mean we have to be apart.”
“I’ll go as slow as you want,” he told her, smacking her lips with his. “And I’m the one who messed up before. But I sure as hell won’t take you for granted ever again. We’re equals, Stella. In business and in life.”
“Can I make a confession?” she asked.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t have anything on under my suit.”
Dane’s body instantly responded. “Miss G
arcia, is this how you plan to conduct all of our business meetings?”
She stepped from his arms and went to the door. With a flick of her wrist, the dead bolt clicked into place. Stella turned back around and started working on the buttons of her jacket.
“I hope that won’t be a problem,” she asked. “I didn’t think my new business partner would mind.”
Dane closed the distance between them and finished unwrapping his woman. “Oh, he definitely doesn’t mind.”
As he pulled her into his arms, he realized that the emptiness in his life that he’d felt ever since losing his mother had healed at last. Here in this place, with this woman beside him, he knew he was exactly where he belonged.
He was finally home.
* * *
Don’t miss Ethan’s story!
California Secrets
Available September 2019!
Keep reading for an excerpt from His Marriage Demand by Yahrah St. John.
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