Page 95 of Girl in the Water
She stared at Ian as he stood and gathered up his small bathroom bag, preparing for his shower.
She’d always cared about him. Long before she’d become physically attracted to him. But as he left the room with an “I’ll be right back,” the truth hit her so hard, she felt flattened to the bed.
She wasn’t just attracted to Ian.
She was in love with him.
The bed seemed to spin with her. She closed her eyes.
Love.
Was she brave enough for that?
Love wasn’t something she contemplated often. Like physical desire, she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel love. The college campus had been drenched in it, but to Daniela, it always seemed superficial. Her friends were in love with one guy this week, another guy the next. Most of the time, when someone said love, they meant sex.
She knew sex. She knew the difference.
But now her heart filled with a soft, warm, gooey, boundless feeling. Was she brave enough to give herself over to it?
Yes, she was, she decided.
And Ian?
Ian would have to be brave enough to acknowledge his heart. And he would have to get over his unreasonable ideas that he was nothing but her protector, that he was too old for her, that he was her mentor, that a deeper, more intimate relationship between them would be wrong.
When they found the baby, Ian would have to acknowledge that Daniela was useful in solving the case. He would have to see her as an adult, as his partner, as his equal.
As the perfect woman for him.
