Page 112 of Now or Never

“I wish I could turn back time, Chelsea. All the way back to that baseball tournament when I asked you out. I’ve replayed it repeatedly and can’t believe that I let my fears keep me from you for so long.”

Chelsea’s heart was filling up, as if it were a bucket and he was holding the hose.

“I made mistake after mistake. I experienced a lot of traumas when I was young, and it’s shaped my fears, and then I projected those fears onto you.”

Chelsea stared at him, shocked.

“I’m back in therapy,” he said with a shrug. “I can see everything that I did was to protect myself from feeling too much. But I’m working on that. I just . . . I can’t . . .”

He huffed out a breath, looked down at the ground to steady himself, then back up at her. “Do you still have any feelings for me at all?” he asked, his eyes full of emotion.

Did she? Of course she did. It was impossible not to. But she was terrified this would end again and totally wreck her. It all came down to whether or not she trusted him.

She should.

But did she?

She set the script back down on the bench and took a deep breath. “What do you want, Adam?”

“I just want to see you. And talk to you. And touch you. And coat you with my love for as long as I can,” he said.

Chelsea’s eyes went wide. “Coat me with your love?”

Adam smiled. “Metaphorically, but I mean, if you want me to coat you in something—”

“Adam . . .”

He laughed. God, she loved that laugh.

He closed the distance between them, reached his hand to her chin. “It’s my intention to prove to you how much I love you, date you for an appropriate amount of time, and as soon as you seem open to the idea, I want to marry you. I want to see you every day. I want to make you smile every day. I want to be a family. I want to teach Ben how to do everything. I want to take him to Disney World. I want all of it.”

Chelsea stepped even closer to him, melted as his arms came around her, engulfing her and pressing her into his chest. He was warm and smelled like fresh-cut wood.

She adored him.

“But for now,” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head, “I’d kill to take you on a date.”

She’d buried her face in his chest, but her smile took over. “A date?”

Adam hummed in his throat, causing a rumble deep in his chest. “I never should have walked away from you at that baseball diamond. Never.”

Chelsea tamped down the emotion filling her throat. “Okay.”

Adam pulled back, looked into her eyes. “Okay?”

Chelsea nodded, tears pricking her eyes.

“Thank God,” he said, then pulled her in and kissed her.

thirty-six

Adam wiped his sweaty palms on the front of his pants as he stepped out of his truck and walked to the front door of Monroe Manor. Inside was Chelsea. God, he loved her so fucking much. It was weird to be going out on a first date with a girl you already knew you’d spend the rest of your life with, but it was also incredibly exciting.

He’d just have to control his adoration for her a little. He didn’t want to be too intense and scare her off.

He rolled his eyes at himself. He probably should have thought about that before he went to the jewellery store and bought her a ring that would make a queen drool. Oh well. He’d just have to wait for the right time.

And the right time wasnotwhen she opened the door for their first date. He had to remind himself of that again when she opened the door and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. He wanted to drop to one knee and beg.

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