5

“I know.” He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “But you don’t.”

He keeps looking at me, causing my heart to pound harder with every second.

“I fucked up so badly,” he says.

“You did.”

“I know you said you needed time, and I’m willing to give you that if that’s really what you want. But I need you to know that I love you.”

I gasp. I did not expect that to fall from his lips. I’m sorry, yeah. Forgive me, maybe. Can we start over, sure. But never I love you. Not after the wall he’s put up.

“I love you. I fell in love with you quicker than I could keep up, and I’m sorry for letting you wait so long. I’m sorry for holding your age above your head as a way to keep my distance. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I let you go. But I’m not sorry I fell in love with you.” The genuine sparkle of happiness glosses over my eyes, my heart expanding to unseen proportions. “I was a coward. I thought love destroyed my father. That his obsessions with my mother were what killed him in the end. But my mother saved him. The love he felt for her made him live longer than any doctor ever gave him. I was wrong, baby. I was so goddamn wrong and I’m sorry. I’m going to tell you every day for the rest of my life, even if you don’t want to hear it. I’m going to force you to listen, even if you don’t want to hear it, because I love you, Kayla. I fucking love you, baby.”

“Well, thank fuck.” I chuckle as my voice falters. “Because it sucks to be the only one in love in a relationship. Doesn’t work as well as when two people feel the same way.”

He smirks at the sarcasm in my tone, cupping my cheek.

“I always felt the same, baby. I just wasn’t as brave as you.” He leans in, our mouths almost touching.

“Probably because you’re an old man. The bravery fades away with the years.”

“Shut up, woman.” Impatiently, he covers his mouth with mine in a bruising kiss. The urgency is tangible, torching every sense in my body.

“I’m not expecting you to forgive me,” he huffs, pushing his forehead against mine. “But I’m just telling you I’ll be by your side forever, whether you do or you don’t.”

“Forever? Are you proposing to me, McKay?”

“No.” Tentatively, his lips brush against mine. “When I propose to you, you get something better than this.”

“Better than my own personal carnival? Big dreams, babe.”

“Anything for you.” He waits for me to make a move, or to say something, and I pull him closer, linking our lips again. I flick my tongue against his and it feels like coming home after a long day. It’s gentle, our tongues speaking the love we can’t voice. It’s intoxicating, drifting me away in an endless bliss. I can kiss this man forever and, secretly, I hope he’ll let me.

“Bodi?” I muse against his lips, followed by a grunt from him. “I forgive you.”

He freezes, his green eyes blinking in shock.

“You do?”

I shrug. “Of course, that’s what you do when you love someone, right? You forgive, because you love them too much to keep dwelling on their mistakes.”

He looks at me in awe.

“I love you, Kayla Lockheart.”

“I love you, Bodi McKay.”