Page 82 of Leo and His Love Bunny

“My feelings for you are a lot stronger than my feelings for any of my other friends. I... I love you. I have for a while. I don’t want to be just friends. I mean, I do want to be friends. But that’s not all I want. I want more. I guess... I guess I want everything.”

Maybe with someone else that would have felt really dangerous, but I’ve spent enough time with Nora that I trust her. Even if she doesn’t return my feelings, I know she’s not going to treat me badly. It’ll just be embarrassing, but Nora will be careful of my feelings. I’m sure of it.

“Are you serious?” she asks, and to my great surprise, she’s the one who closes the distance between us. Not only that, but her hand comes up and touches my abs. My muscles jerk and I fear she might take her hand away, so I put my hand over top of hers, pressing it against me.

“Yes, I’m totally serious. That is the only thing that explains my behavior just now. I was jealous. Flat-out jealous that you were standing in his arms.”

“He told me you told him to come over and entertain me since you would be talking for a while.”

Okay, that’s fair.

“I did ask him to come over and say something to you. He’s usually very charming, and quite harmless, but I wasn’t expecting him to ask you to dance.”

I should have known. Dan is known as a great dancer, and he probably didn’t think anything of it. I wouldn’t have either, if I hadn’t considered Nora... Mine. I want her to be mine.

“Okay. That explains it. I didn’t want to insult him by telling him no, but I didn’t want to get up and dance with him either.”

“I didn’t think you did. By the time I got there, you had pulled back. It wasn’t that I was angry at you. I wasn’t even angry at him. It was just...” I put my arm around her, and she comescloser willingly. “It’s that I want you here, in my arms. Not his.” My words are softer, slower, harder to push out. I don’t like admitting that. It almost feels like weakness, because it really is. I allowed Dan to prompt me to do something completely out of character, because of my feelings for Nora. It’s disconcerting to realize that she has that much of a hold on me.

“Yeah. That’s how I felt.”

I smile, my head over hers, my cheek leaning down to rest on top of her head as we sway slowly to the music together. This is what I want. Nora pressed against me, in my arms.

“I know we talked about how both of us are focused on careers and for me how I have this last year of hockey and then I had a new career that I want to work on, but honestly, I know it’s probably going to be hard, it’s going to be new, I’m not used to having to make time for a relationship, but I want to. I was hoping that you would feel the same way.”

My words are hesitant, a little unsure. I know I’m striding into territory that we’ve already covered and we’d already decided that we weren’t going to go there. I’m asking her to change her mind, telling her that I have.

I feel vulnerable.

But her arms tighten around me, and her head lifts off of my chest and looks up.

“I think both of us are used to doing hard things. If we make staying together a priority, I don’t see how it won’t happen.”

I don’t know that I have that much confidence. Lots of people better than me have tried to stay in a relationship and just haven’t been able to make it work, but on the other hand, I think she’s right. All it takes is determination and commitment, and both of us are determined and both of us are committed.

“So that was a yes?” I prompt.

“Were you asking a question?”

“I want to be with you. I want to be with you and you only, and I want to do that with marriage in mind. Could you feel the same?”

She wanted a question, and I didn’t know how to phrase it. I’m not asking her to marry me now, but I’m asking her to commit to me with that thought in mind. It’s a pretty big commitment. Of course, there aren’t any vows being said, but when I give my word, I keep it. I know Nora is the same way.

“I do.”

I love the way she says that. It’s not a vow, but it echoes those vows, and it seems fitting. My mouth is dry, but the words that are on the edge of my tongue can’t be contained. “I want to kiss you. Is that okay with you?”

My mouth trails over her temple, and I close my eyes, breathing in her scent. It’s perfect, although I don’t think she’s wearing perfume. She just smells like Nora. A little bit of vanilla, a little bit of icing and sugar and maybe a touch of lemon. I can breathe that in for the rest of my life.

“Please,” she says. I like that better than yes.

I lower my head, and this time, it’s not a stolen kiss in the rain, hurried and rushed and without deliberate thought or plan. This time, it’s deliberate. With the knowledge that she and I are going to be together for a very long time. I feel like it’s the first kiss of the rest of our lives, and I suppose if I would have had time to think about it, I could have been nervous about all the feelings and emotions and promises I wanted to put into it.

But I don’t think about that. I just think about lowering my head and kissing the woman I love.

I don’t know what she is thinking about, but whatever it is, she makes my world spin and my heart thunder. Maybe those feelings won’t last, but I know the commitment that we have, and I know the character behind that commitment, and I feel good about the rest of our lives.

Chapter 36

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