“So you took off from Australia, left a job unfinished, got on a plane although you hate flying to come here. For what reason, Gemma?”
She lifted her chin and glared at him. “I don’t have to answer that, since it’s none of your business.”
Callum couldn’t help but smile at that. He moved away from the door to stand in front of her. “Wrong. It is my business. Both business and personal. It’s business because I hired you to do a job and you’re not there doing it. And it’s personal because it’s you and anything involving you is personal to me.”
She lifted her chin a little higher. “I don’t know why.”
“Well, then, Gemma Westmoreland, let me explain it to you,” he said, leaning in close to her face. “It’s personal because you mean everything to me.”
“I can’t and I don’t,” she snapped. “Go tell that to the woman you’re going to marry. The woman who is your soul mate.”
“I am telling that to her. You are her.”
She narrowed her eyes. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Why do you think I hung around here for three years working my tail off? Not because I needed the job, but because the woman I love, the woman who’s had my heart since the first day I saw her, was here. The woman I knew the moment I saw her that she was destined to be mine. Do you know how many nights I went to this bed thinking of you, dreaming of you, patiently waiting for the day when I could make you belong to me in every possible way?”
He didn’t give her a chance to answer him. Figured she probably couldn’t anyway with the shocked look on her face, so he continued. “I took you to Australia for two reasons. First, I knew you could do the job, and secondly, I wanted you on my turf so I could court you properly. I wanted to show you that I was a guy worth your love and trust. I wanted you to believe in me, believe that I would never break your heart because, no matter what you thought, I was always going to be there for you. To give you every single thing you wanted. I love you.”
There, he had his say and he knew it was time to brace himself when she had hers. She shook her head as if to mentally clear her mind and then she glanced back up at him. And glared.
“Are you saying that I’m the reason you hung around here and worked for Ramsey and that you took me to Australia to decorate your house and to win me over?”
She had explained it differently, but it all came down to the same thing. “Yes, that about sums it all up, but don’t forget the part about loving you.”
She threw her hands up in the air and then began angrily pacing the room while saying, “You put me through all this for nothing! You had me thinking I was decorating that house for another woman. You had me thinking that we were just having an affair that would lead nowhere.”
She stopped pacing and her frown deepened. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
He crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Had I told you the truth, sweetheart, you would not have been ready to hear it, nor would you have believed it. You would have given me more grief than either of us needed,” he said softly.
A smile then crossed his lips. “I had threatened to kidnap you, but Ramsey thought that was going a little too far.”
Her eyes widened. “Ramsey knew?”
“Of course. Your brother is a smart man. There’s no way I could have hung around here for three years sniffing around his sister and he not know about it.”
“Sniffing around me? I want you to know that I—”
He thought she’d talked enough and decided to shut her up by pulling her into his arms and taking her mouth. The moment his tongue slid between her lips he figured she would either bite it or accept it. She accepted it and it began tangling with hers.
Callum deepened the kiss and tightened his hold on Gemma and she responded by wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes and participating in their kiss the way he’d shown her how to do. He knew they still had a lot to talk about, and he would have to go over it again to satisfy her, but he didn’t care. He would always give her what she wanted.
Callum forced his mouth from hers, but not before taking a quick lick around her lips. He then rested his forehead against hers and pulled in a deep breath. “I love you, Gemma,” he whispered against her temple. “I loved you from the moment I first saw you. I knew you were the one, my true soul mate.”