Page 106 of Book People

I put the note back in the book and, when Mrs Abbot comes in to collect an order, I ask her if she’ll take it across the road to Blackwood Books.

She gives me the oddest smile, but does so.

Five minutes later, the door to Portable Magic bangs open and Sebastian strides in. He’s dressed in black and his eyes are glowing bright blue.

There are customers in the bookshop, but he looks only at me. ‘Out,’ he commands, and I know he’s not speaking to me.

The customers flee, and I don’t protest. There’s only one person in the world worth bothering about in this moment and he’s standing in my bookshop, staring at me.

He shuts the door, locks it. Then strides over to the counter.

I’m standing behind it, my heart beating its way out of my chest. ‘How dare you?’ There’s no heat in my voice. ‘Those were my customers.’

‘I don’t care.’ He is fierce. ‘Tell me what I should expect, Kathryn.’

I love the way he says my name. I love how sure it sounds in his mouth.

I love him.

‘A happy ending, Sebastian,’ I tell him. ‘That’s what you should expect. That’s what you deserve and it’s what I deserve too. The happy ending that Sebastian and Kate never got.’

‘What if I told you they did?’

I open my mouth. Close it. ‘But they—’

‘There should be a postcard in Rose’s effects,’ he says. ‘I’ll show you later. But you should know that they were together in the end, and I think that’s what we should be too. Together.’ He moves towards me, coming around the counter to where I’m standing, and I can’t breathe. The electricity pouring off him, thefierce burn of his eyes pinning me to the spot like a butterfly on a board.

I brace myself, waiting for him to reach for me, but he doesn’t. He stays where he is, keeping some distance between us.

‘I love you, Kate,’ he says. ‘I loved you the moment I first saw you.’

‘But you walked away.’ I don’t want to argue with him, but of course I’m not able to stop myself. ‘You told me we couldn’t be together.’

‘I know. But I was wrong. And I was a coward. You told me all those things you thought I was and I . . . I didn’t think I could be any of them. I didn’t think I was good enough, and it was easier to walk away than to try.’

My throat closes and I have to swallow. Hard. ‘You don’t have to try, Sebastian. You already are that man. You were him all along.’

He doesn’t move; his hands are clenched. ‘I don’t feel like I am. When my mother died and my father drank, I closed myself off. I closed myself down, because it was easier. And I never learned how to deal with any of these . . . fucking emotions.’ His expression is taut and he’s breathing fast. ‘I still don’t and I’m . . . I’m fucking terrified. But . . . Kathryn, my beautiful Kate. I can’t live without you and I don’t want to. And you can’t go back to Fuckface and you can’t go with Lisa . . . You just can’t leave me. I won’t have it.’

He’s struggling, this all-or-nothing man, who’s apparently decided he wants it all. And I can see his fear. If easy was what he wanted, he’d never have written me that note, never have charged across the road and burst into my bookshop. But here he is, standing in front of me, fighting for what he wants.

Fighting for me.

I can’t stand the distance between us now. It feels wrong, and he’s made it this far, so I’m the one who closes the final gap.Who crosses that last piece of distance, which ends up being no distance at all.

It’s me who reaches up to lay my palm against his warm cheek. ‘Then I won’t leave,’ I say simply. ‘I’ll stay here. With you.’

He reaches up to my hand and covers it with his own, holding my palm against his skin. The look in his sharp blue eyes is painful. ‘Are you sure? I’m not an easy man. In fact, I can be fucking awful, ask anyone here.’

‘I’ve already asked most people here, and they say you’re aloof sometimes and reserved sometimes, but you’re also a good man.’

A muscle flicks in his jaw. He’s so tense. ‘Fuck . . . I don’t know what to say now. I’ve never been in love before. I’ve never even had a proper relationship before.’

I smile, love filling my chest, inflating my heart like a balloon so that it presses painfully against my ribs. ‘Well, I have,’ I say. ‘And I can help you with that.’ Then I put my hand on his chest and rise on my toes, and I kiss him.

And the magic happens. The same magic that’s always happened between us.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispers against my lips. ‘I shouldn’t have walked away.’

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