She finally looked at him reluctantly. His eyes were clear and earnest, and she could hear the sincerity in his voice. Was he right? Was she refusing to believe him because she was scared of what would happen to them when he went back to Hollywood? Of course she was.
But how could a relationship between them work?
He extracted her hands from the death grip she had on the comforter and kissed her fingers. “I know it’s scary to think about dating someone in the public eye, and I know I’m asking a lot. But selfishly …” He paused, and for a minute Lacey thought he was going to take it all back. She held her breath. “I can’t resist asking you anymore. Having had you, and tasted you, I can’t possibly walk away. I love you, and I want to be with you. I want to let everyone in the entire world know I’m taken, and it’s real.”
She clung to his hands, unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth. Only one week ago, she’d seen him making eyes at and exchanging sweet nothings with the actress on the screen in his latest film. All the women in the theater melted, and the men rolled their eyes. She had clutched her heart. But this declaration? This blew the other speech out of the water and decimated it.
“Mark.”
“Sh. Let me finish before you say no. I have to tell you how much I’ve always cared about you. I wrote you a dozen letters in the first month after I left, each one begging you to come visit me over Christmas vacation. Each one begging you to move to California, be my roommate.” He paused again, seeming to search for the right words. “I-I ripped them all up and threw them away. You had your own life here. You were normal, and fun, and free. Already, within my first year in California, my time was not my own. My time was planned and plotted and calculated. It still is.
“And I was okay with it. I really was. But being with you for such a short time reminded me what it felt like to be alive. To live life, and laugh, and feel something in here.” He pressed her hands to his chest. “I feel so much when I’m with you, and it’s something I’ve never forgotten. Something I was too scared to examine, even when we were kids.
“I knew it wouldn’t be fair to start anything because I wasn’t ready to commit to you. I knew if I had held you in my arms, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”
She hesitated, her mind spinning. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? That he wanted to be with her? Actually make a go of an impossible relationship? “And now? Now you’re ready?”
“Yes.” He dropped her hands and cupped her cheeks, pressing a light kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he stroked her jaw with his thumbs. “I’m here, and I can’t imagine wanting to leave your side ever again. I’m ready to commit myself wholly to you, and you’ll never doubt my dedication. Never doubt my feelings. I was not, I repeat, not in a relationship with Sylvia. Nor have I ever been. I’ve been single ever since I walked away from you.”
She blinked at him. “Wait, what? But Angie—”
“Fake.”
“Sandy?”
“Fake.”
“Wow.” She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him, unable to believe this was happening. Unable to let herself hope it could work. “But I know how busy you are, and I know you can’t move here with me. And I can’t move to California. My parents are here. My life is here. It can’t work.”
He shook his head, his jaw tight. “None of it matters. Not if you want to be with me. If you’ll let me show you how happy I could make you be, I promise you’ll want for nothing. I don’t have to live in California. Plenty of celebrities live in different states. Yeah, I’ll have to leave to film movies and go on publicity tours around the world, but I can live here. I can be here, if you want me to be.”
“You would move here? For me?”
His lips twitched, and he slid his hands into her hair. “Honey, I would do anything for you. All you have to do is say yes.”
She sighed. “It would never work. The town closes down at nine at night—when Hollywood is just waking up. The highlight of the season? The Christmas party at school. Santa comes, the kids have a blast, and the whole town shows up. Do you remember how bored you were? If you don’t, I do.”
“I don’t care about any of that anymore.”
“You say that now, but wait until you have to drive thirty minutes for a Starbucks. Or twenty to the closest bar. You wouldn’t be happy here.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re continuing to tell me how I feel—yet not listening to a word I say about the subject. I’m not the same kid you knew. I’d be happy because I’d be with you. Can’t you believe me?”
Could she dare to take a leap of faith? Could she not? Her heart sped up as she thought about what they could have together. What they could be to each other. There was no denying he was right about her feelings for him. They’d never died, and now that she’d spent a night in his arms, they never would. If anything, they’d get stronger. It would be much
stronger than a desire, but a need. Even now, she longed to close her arms around him and make love to him again. And again. And again.
If she said yes, she could have that, and so much more. If she said yes, she’d have his heart and his love. She’d have Mark Delaney.
“Yes,” she whispered, unable to make her voice louder. She cleared her throat, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed there, and tried again, this time in a louder, surer voice. “Yes.”
“Thank God,” he said, his eyes shining. “If you’d said no, I might have made a fool out of myself crying in your lap, begging you to change your mind.”
She choked on a laugh. “No crying necessary.”
He tugged her close and melded his mouth to hers, his tongue touching hers as soon as she parted her lips. She pulled him closer, laying back on the mattress and bringing him with her, needing to feel his weight on her. Needing to feel him. He tore his mouth free and smoothed her hair off her face. Looking deep into her eyes, he asked, “What are you doing tomorrow? Got any plans?”
Didn’t he know she had different plans for those lips than mere words? Disappointed he stopped kissing her to talk, she blinked up at him. “Uh, no?”