“Rory…” My voice trailed off. That was heavy and huge. I’d concentrated so hard about how I could move on without him, that this about-face was messing with my head.
He cupped my jaw and tipped it up so our gazes locked. I couldn’t look away. Not from the urgency there in his hurricane wild blue eyes. “A ghrá, you have no idea the happiness you’ll bring my family. And have already done with me.”
I curled my fingers around his wrist. “I—”
The crack of lightning breaking the sky made us both jump. We’d been so focused on talking that the storm that had been in the far distance was sitting on top of us. Thunder followed almost immediately. Close didn’t even cover it.
And with it came sheets of rain as if the heavens opened up with buckets of it and some hail for good measure.
Was this an omen?
He practically dragged me away from the waterline and up the path. “Come on,” he shouted.
His hand was clamped around mine, drawing me to the far path.
“Rory, there’s a closer one,” I yelled over the whipping wind. Another slice of lightning lit the roiling sky, and the boom of thunder seemed to disperse the sharp scent of ozone in the air.
“Are you daft? All those trees? I’m not risking you or the baby.”
My chest tightened and seemed to crack. I didn’t even mind getting thoroughly soaked because of his plan. I was too focused on the fact that his sole focus was safety for us.
Thanks to the rocky path, it wasn’t too muddy and we both managed to climb without falling. By the end of it, we were laughing. My dress was completely see-through at that point, and I was shivering.
His hair was plastered to his forehead as was his shirt. I swallowed thickly. And mercy, so were his pants. He raked his hands through his hair to slick it back and finally got a good look at me.
“You are a vis
ion.”
“Drowned rats are your jam?” The rain lightened to a soaking instead of a deluge. I quickly twisted my thick ropes of hair into a braid and flipped it over my shoulder.
He stepped forward, wrapping my braid around his hand. “I have dreams of this fiery hair. Some nights it’s wrapped around me like chains.”
“You think I’m trying to trap you.”
His other hand came up to my face. “No. It’s the kind of chains I want. The kind that makes me sit still and stop fucking running. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Ivy Rose Beck.”
My heart skipped. The way he said it sounded so big and profound. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I wanted to give the same back to him, but a little part of me was still so unsure.
We were so new. There was so much unknown between us.
Instead of holding my silence against me, he fused our mouths together. This I understood. The passion and the sparring that was so much a part of us.
I gripped his shoulders and leaned into the tempest between us that matched the one around us.
It felt like it had been forever since he’d touched me. And everything was different. My body, my hormones, my emotions—everything was heightened.
The tight hold on my braid loosened, and his kiss softened. “As much as I love the taste of you in the rain, I need to get you back to the car.”
I nodded. “Right. And I’m freezing.”
“We’ll get you home and dry.”
“So much for our date.”
He laughed. “Better than you getting sick. Or the wee one.”
“Think he or she is all toasty in there. Me? I’m frozen.”