“She was at first, but we talked.”
“Just talked?” she asked as disbelief filled her tone.
I scowled with her question. It was completely unjustifiable. Elizabeth just hadn’t realized that yet.
“I’m never fucking anyone else again, Elizabeth. Don’t you get that?”
Her eyes looked away as a slight smile formed.
I continued, “I made her see that I never lied to her or led her on.” I paused before clenching my jaw. “At least not on purpose. I can see now how my actions might have led her to believe that we could have had a future even though my words never said as much.”
“That was big of you,” Elizabeth complimented me, and it filled me with a sense of pride.
“Anyway, I told her what she deserved when it came to a man and how she should never settle for someone like me, and she agreed. She realized that I would never love her because she knew I could never feel about her the way I feel about you.”
Elizabeth gasped softly, and her breasts pressed tighter against her blouse. She slowly moved back. “How do you feel about me?”
I leaned toward her, my hands reaching for hers. “I’m fucking crazy about you. I refuse to live without you, and I’m not letting you push me away. We both have fears, but we’re going to work through them together. I told you before that I wouldn’t let you sacrifice your work for me, and I meant it. I never want to give you a reason to resent me or hate me. But you can’t shut me out. Just because I don’t live here doesn’t mean that you get to run away from me or stop communicating with me. As you can tell, I’ll just come down here and get you.”
She laughed, and her whole face radiated like the sun. “I’m crazy about you, too, and that’s what scares me. I had the most explicit fantasy during a meeting, and I got caught. That’s why I was so pissed off.”
“Wait—you had a fantasy about me?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Oh, yeah.”
“Is that why you said you got in trouble?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded.
“Keep talking, but in a minute, tell me every single detail, so we can re-create it.” My dick started to harden again, no matter how many times I’d mentally told it to calm down.
“It’s hard for me to admit being scared of things. It makes me feel weak, and I don’t like that. A woman in my position doesn’t get to where she is by being weak. But falling in love with you makes me feel that way. It makes me feel vulnerable.”
“You’re falling in love with me?” My heart sped up as if I were running a marathon, beating in double-time against my chest and pounding so loud in my ears. I suddenly felt as if I were the girl in this relationship.
“I’m falling for you so hard and so fast,” she declared.
“You’re not alone in that. Please don’t think that you’re the only one feeling that way. At least that should give you some comfort, right?” I wanted to calm her fears, hating the fact that anything about me scared her at all.
She agreed with a nod. “It does make me feel better, but I’m still scared, and I hate it.”
“So, we’ll get through it. Be scared. I’ll be here to make sure there’s nothing to be scared of. I’m not going to let you fail. I’m not going to let you fall. You’re going to keep being the incredible business woman that you are, and I’m going to be by your side for it all. I mean, I’ll be by your side from San Francisco, but still.” I laughed as her eyes watered.
“Barbara was right.”
“Oh, yeah?” I scooted my body close to hers. “What about?”
“She said that we were both lucky to have found each other and that some people were worth unpacking baggage for.”
“Babe, I’ll buy you more suitcases and storage units for all your baggage. I don’t even care. I want all of you and everything that comes with it.”
14.
ELIZABETH
How the hell I ever deserved to find someone as amazing as Daniel was beyond me, but right now, in my living room, I didn’t care about the whys of it all. I was too thrilled being in the nows of it.
“So, you forgive me?” In order to move on, I knew I needed to acknowledge that I had been wrong.