“Why? I rather like you naked,” Mac replied, teasing. He picked up the black T-shirt that lay across his chair and held it up. “I did a load of laundry earlier and I tossed your clothes in too. Will this do?”
“You can do laundry?” Rory asked, amused as she caught the T-shirt he tossed her way.
“I can do lots of things,” Mac replied, his voice quieter. “Would you like some coffee?”
Rory nodded and watched as he walked back out onto the balcony and returned with a cup of coffee, which he handed over. Rory took a sip and quickly realized it was barely warm but strong enough to put scales on her chest. Okay, so Mac wasn’t as together as he sounded, she thought. Very good to know that she wasn’t the only one in the room wondering what she was doing here.
What was she doing here?
Mac sat on the edge of the bed, his bended knee touching her thigh. He stared down at the floor, and when he spoke, his voice vibrated with emotion. “I once told you that hockey is everything to me, that it was the highest priority in my life.”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“It has been my life for the past fifteen years. It’s afforded me this amazing lifestyle and I’ve loved every moment I’ve spent on and off the ice.”
Okay, he wasn’t telling her anything new here.
“I love you more.”
Rory’s mouth fell open. Had he really said what she thought he’d said? She needed to make sure. “Say that again?”
“You are the highest priority in my life. You make it better, brighter and more fun.” Mac sent her an uncertain look and his hand gripped her thigh covered by the sheet. “Look, I know I screwed up. I know you needed me, and I let my insecurities get the best of me. I hate that I let you down. I want to do better. I will do better. And I know you have trust issues too. You say you don’t do relationships but I’d like us to try.
“Before you say no let me say this—I will never cheat on you, I promise. Actually, the closest I’ve ever come to cheating was that kiss we shared. I’ve never been involved with anyone deeply enough for this to be an issue but, in my defense, I’ve always ended one affair before I started another.”
“Um...okay?”
“But you aren’t an affair. You are the only person I can be real with. Someone I can really talk to... You are my best friend. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. I want to make it up to you. I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you, if you’ll let me.”
Rory placed her hand over her heart, her lower lip trembling as she listened to this innately masculine man humble himself before her.
“Give me a shot, Rory. Give us a shot,” Mac pleaded, emotion radiating from his eyes.
“What if we fail, Mac?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Aw, baby...” Mac blew out a breath and shrugged. “I don’t fail and you’re too important to me to let that happen. But if we do, then we’ll go down knowing we gave it our best, knowing we loved rather than living a half-life, guarding our hearts and thoughts and emotions.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Rory whispered.
“It’ll be anything but easy,” Mac replied. “It’ll be tough, and we’ll fight and we’ll sometimes wonder what the hell we were thinking. But through it all we’ll love each other.” Mac pushed an agitated hand through his hair. “We’ll have to spend time apart when I’m on the road. But you’ll have your own practice to keep you busy and we’ll talk every night and text every hour. We’ll spend every minute we can together and we’ll work at it, dammit, because the one thing we are both good at is hard work, Rorks. If we work at loving each other as hard as we do at everything else, we can’t do anything but succeed.”
It was a compelling argument, Rory thought, wishing she could throw her fear aside and launch herself into his arms, into their future. “I’m scared, Mac.”
“So am I.” Mac leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “We can be scared together. Do you think you can love me, Rorks? Some day and at some stage?”
Rory pulled her head back, astounded at his comment. She placed a hand on his chest. “You think I don’t love you?”
“Well, you haven’t exactly uttered the words,” Mac said conversationally, but she could feel his galloping heartbeat under her hand.
Rory linked her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “I do love you. I think I fell in love with you the first time you almost kissed me.” Rory placed her forehead against his temple. “I thought I was going to be alone forever but I can’t be. It’s no longer who I am, who I’ve become by knowing you. Who I am now is someone who loves you—now, tomorrow, forever. I might have had a hand in rehabilitating your arm but you rehabilitated my heart.”