I open the door, and my heart stops for a beat when I see Kray. His hair is messy and windswept, and there’s an anxious look in his eyes. I long to run my hands through his thick hair and lean into his solid, comforting chest. But I can’t show weakness now. It will only get me hurt.
“What are you doing here?”
I fold my arms across my chest. If he’s come to say goodbye, he can do it on the doorstep. I don’t want a drawn-out farewell.
“Can I come in?”
I don’t want to prolong the goodbye, but it’s freezing on the doorstep. Begrudgingly, I open the door wider, letting him in.
“What do you want, Kray?”
If he’s offended by my coolness, he doesn’t show it, which just goes to show how right I am. He doesn’t give a shit about me.
“Have you come to say goodbye?”
His brow furrows and he shakes his head. “No. I’m not leaving you, Cleo.”
The words spark something warm inside me, and a bead of hope unfurls in my stomach.
I crush it down before it gets me hurt.
“You’ve got to go back sometime, Kray. There’s no point in being dishonest about it. I fucked you last night knowing that you’ll be leaving. You don’t have to feel like a bad guy. It’s okay.”
He winces at my crass language, and I get a little bit of satisfaction from his reaction.
“No. You don’t understand, Cleo.” He’s talking to me slowly as if I’m dumb. “I’m never leaving you. I’m staying here with you, or you’re coming with me to the Coast. Whichever one you want.”
My mouth drops open and I stare at him. He’s so confident. He sounds so certain. I want what he says to be true, but I can’t be sure he means it.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Kray takes my hands in his as he takes a step closer his intense eyes searching mine. “I love you, Cleo. I’ve loved you since I saw your photo on Ethan’s social media feed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I didn’t come here to visit Ethan. I came here for you.”
The words don’t make sense. Kray turned up to visit Ethan. He drove all that way to see his brother. He didn’t drive all that way to see me, did he?
Kray runs a hand through my hair. “Cleo, the moment I saw your photo, I knew you were the woman for me. I called Ethan to ask who you were, and he told me you were house sitting for him over Christmas.”
I stare at him, my mouth agape. What he’s saying doesn’t make sense. “You mean, you turning up wasn’t an accident?”
“Nope. I knew you were here, and I knew Ethan wasn’t. I came for you, Cleo. I came to meet you, to see if my instincts about you were right. To see if you were the woman for me.”
I think about looking through the family photo album, about my own feelings about the boy with the dark eyes and long hair. If I’m honest with myself, whenever I looked at those photos, I wondered about the man he would become. I longed to meet him. I never thought I ever would.
Kray takes a step closer until we’re inches apart.
“And what did you find?” I ask breathlessly.
“I was right. You are the only woman for me. I want to be with you, Cleo. I hope you’ll come back with me, but wherever you want to be, I’ll be by your side.”
His words speak to something deep inside me, the longing I’ve had ever since I can remember to be a part of something.
“And to show you how serious I am, to show you that I’ll never leave you…”
Kray sinks to one knee and pulls a small box out of his pocket.