‘You weren’t clumsy, Josh,’ she said quietly, ‘you were honest, and there’s nothing wrong with being honest.’
‘I was clumsy because what I wanted wasn’t straight in my head.’ His eyes burned into hers. ‘But it’s straight now.’
She stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that I know exactly what I want now.’ His voice was rough. ‘It’s all suddenly very clear.’
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. ‘And what do you want, Josh?’
‘You.’ His eyes didn’t shift from hers. ‘I want you, Kat. All to myself. For ever.’
A thrill of excitement flashed through her but she stopped it dead, reminding herself that nothing had changed.
‘We’ve been through this—’
‘No.’ He lifted a hand and shook his head. ‘We haven’t been through this. You’ve made certain assumptions about me, assumptions that I wasn’t in a position to correct, but now I am.’
‘Josh—’
‘Let’s look at the facts. You won’t let yourself get involved with me because you think I’ll hurt Archie,’ he said quietly. ‘But I’m not going to hurt him, Kat. I love him. In a different way to the way I love you, that’s true, but I still love him.’
She stood frozen to the spot, frightened to disturb the dream by speaking.
‘I can see you don’t believe me.’ His voice was hoarse and he stepped towards her and took her hands in his. ‘But it’s true. I love you and I love your son, and I would do anything in my power to prevent either of you from ever being hurt.’
Would she wake up? If she spoke, would she wake up?
He cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. ‘I didn’t know anything about children until Archie came on the scene, and I still don’t know much, but I’m learning, Kat. I swear to you, I’m learning as fast as I can. And do you know what?’ He stared down into her face, the expression on his handsome face intensely serious. ‘I understand now why you would sacrifice yourself to keep your son happy because I have those feelings, too. I don’t know where they came from, but I have those feelings, too.’
She swallowed. ‘Josh—’
‘Let me finish. You want to protect Archie from me, but you don’t need to do that, Kat. I also want to protect him. I want to be a part of his future.’ He stroked her cheek gently with his fingers. ‘I want to share Archie with you. I want to be there for him when he falls over and…’ He sucked in a breath and hesitated. ‘And I want to be there for him the first time a girl breaks his heart, the way you’re breaking mine now.’
She stared at him and tried to make her voice work, breathlessly aware of the brush of his fingers. ‘I’m breaking your heart? How?’ Her heart bumped against her chest. ‘How am I breaking your heart, Josh?’
‘By not trusting me. By not saying yes.’
She blinked. ‘But—’
‘Dammit, I’ve told you that I love you! And that I love Archie!’ He released her and spread his hands in a gesture of exasperation. ‘What more do you want to hear? I love everything about you. I love the fact you’re so independent. I love the fact that you don’t care if your hair gets messed up by the wind. But most of all I love the fact that you love your child so much you’ll run half-naked into a stranger’s house to make sure he’s safe. I love you and you’re breaking my heart because you’re not saying any of the things you’re supposed to say!’
‘What am I supposed to say, Josh?’
He stared at her in exasperation. ‘You’re supposed to say that you’ll marry me. That’s what you’re supposed to say!’
There was a long silence. A silence that was suddenly bursting with promise.
‘But you haven’t asked me, Josh.’ Suddenly she felt weak. ‘You haven’t asked me to marry you.’
His gaze dropped to her mouth and he frowned. ‘I haven’t?’
‘No.’ Her mouth curved into a smile that she couldn’t hold back. ‘You haven’t. Maybe you forgot.’
He cleared his throat and dragged his eyes up to meet hers. ‘Maybe I did.’
‘So…She gave a shrug. ‘Are you going to do something about that?’
His mouth curved into a slow smile and he stepped towards her and dragged her into his arms.