“Noah, what are you doing?”
“It’s you. It’s always been you.”
“What?”
He slammed his lips down on hers, and she moaned. The moment her mouth opened on another gasp, he plundered inside, kissing her, needing every single part of her.
She broke the kiss first, pulling away. “I don’t understand.”
“I built this for you.”
She frowned. “I still don’t understand.”
Staring into her dark brown gaze, he knew it so fucking clearly. “Fifteen years ago, I fell in love with you.”
“Noah?”
“Let me finish. I fell in love with you, Skye. I didn’t mean for it to happen or even know it had happened, but it did. Dad’s promotion, all the shit that came after that, it doesn’t matter. You’re the only want I want, the only person I’ve ever wanted. This room, I did it to remember you. When I’m here, I think of you. I remember holding you. Even when you were afraid of me, I’d hold you. I don’t want to lose that, not ever.”
Tears filled her eyes, spilling down her cheeks, breaking his heart.
“So, I’m going to do this.” He sank down onto one knee.
“Please, Noah, don’t do this.”
“I want you to marry me, Skye. I want you to be my wife and to be the mother of my children. I want it all. I don’t care about our past.”
“But I do.” She sniffled. Holding onto his hands, she pressed a kiss to them. “I need you to listen to me. I know this is hard, but our past, it means something. We’ve barely gotten to know each other right now. We’ve both got a failed marriage, and all the other baggage in our lives. What we need is the time to get to know each other now, right now. Not here, in the past. Not like this. We’ve got to move on. Both of us.”
“You’re not moving out of the apartment,” he said. He knew they were destined together. There was no doubt in his mind.
She laughed. “I couldn’t afford a place. I’m not moving out, but can’t we just have some time together, rather than speeding everything along? We’ve been apart for fifteen years, and I don’t want to rush this. I want to enjoy this with you.”
He saw this weird look in her eye. He didn’t even know what it meant. Tonight, he wasn’t getting anywhere. Even as he understood her apprehension in getting married to him, it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. They’d been through hell together, and no matter how much time separated them, it would never change. He wasn’t going to walk away from her. He knew how he felt, and it was real to him. He loved her so deeply and would do anything to make her happy. His biggest mistake and his biggest regret were walking away, and letting her shout at him. He should have fought more. What they had was special, but he’d allowed it to fall apart. Never again.
“You want to take time with each other?”
“Yes. Forgetting all about this. Do you think you can do that for me?”
Staring into her eyes, he shook his head, laughing.
“What?” she asked.
“You don’t even realize that there is a whole lot of shit I’d do for you, Skye. All you got to do is ask for it, and I’ll give it to you. No questions asked.”
She surprised him then by kissing his lips.
“Thank you. What are you doing with this?” she asked.
“I’ll turn the room into something. I’ve got a few ideas.” Getting to his feet, he pushed some of her hair off her shoulder.
“How long have you been home?” she asked.
“Long enough to trash this room. I lied to you earlier.”
“About what?”
“I wasn’t with a client. I went back to that place.”