‘Because I love you, you idiot.’ She snorted, half laughing, half sobbing.
The words spun around him, lifting him and making him feel somehow complete.
‘I can’t believe you did all this yourself,’ he told her at length when the breath in his chest finally felt like his again.
‘Not all myself.’ Anouk offered a wry smile. ‘I had a little help. Quite a bit, in fact.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Libby, Katie and Isobel.’
He groaned loudly, but only half-heartedly.
‘You realise those girls will for ever be able to say that I was wrong and they were right?’
‘I do.’ Her eyes twinkled mischievously, sending a streak of desire straight through him. ‘Just as I know you won’t begrudge them a moment of it.’
‘I won’t,’ he murmured, revelling in the way Anouk’s body was finally moulding to him.
As if she’d always been meant to be there.
‘I love you,’ he repeated, just because it felt incredible to say it. Because he couldn’t get enough of hearing it. Because he didn’t think he’d ever tire of basking in the tender glow of her sapphire gaze when he told her how he felt about her.
Now that her barriers had finally dropped.
‘I love you, too, Solomon Gunn,’ she whispered fiercely, all her tentativeness put aside in that moment. ‘And I will continue loving you for the rest of my life.’
‘I intend to hold you to that,’ he managed gruffly, ‘because I think it will take a lifetime to prove to you how much I love you, too.’
‘Just the one?’ she teased.
‘Trust me, that’s all we’ll need, you and I. Together.’
He couldn’t hold back a moment longer. Lowering his head, he claimed her mouth with his, letting her wind her arms around his neck, and lifting her up so that she could wrap her legs around his hips, as her heat poured through him.
And then he laid her down within their twinkling, magical Christmas village scene, and they welcomed in the first perfect Christmas of the rest of their lives together.
* * *