Page 114 of Into These Eyes
“I’m so glad someone was there for her in her final moments.” Her thumbs brush the outer corners of my eyes, tickling my lashes. “I’m so glad she was looking into these eyes when she passed.”
Her courage to completely open herself to me, the way she’s talking to me, touching me, looking at me … I’ve never experienced anything like it. She’s warmth and safety, unguarded care and empathy. I’m not quite sure, but I think I understand what this is.
It feels like … she’slovingme.
“Thank you, Gavin. Knowing that means more to me than you can imagine.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to her … to you.”
“And you,” she says, her fingers working a delicate spell at the nape of my neck. “A beautiful act of kindness, and what did it get you?”
My thoughts instantly go to the sorrow of comforting her mother, the trauma of her dying in front of me, then the shock and rage over my arrest and imprisonment.
But as I look into her eyes, I suddenly understand something entirely different. Something that’s been lingering inside me for weeks now, an idea I’ve kept just out of reach. Because, as much as I’ve wanted everything I’ve been through to mean something significant, it was downright horrifying to believe it happened for a reason.
Not anymore.
“You want to know what it got me?”
She nods, her gaze never leaving mine.
My heart throbs painfully in my chest, but the revelation is so powerful, I have to share it with her. So I let the truth tumble from my lips. “It got me here. It led me to this moment. With you.”
Tears fill her beautiful eyes. But this time, she doesn’t try to blink them away. This time, they spill freely over her cheeks. It’s exquisite.
And then she kisses me.
I’m so stunned, my heart stops, its next beat suspended as it waits for my brain to catch up.
Her lips are on mine.
Her hands are in my hair, her soft breaths fluttering against my cheek.
Her mouth cradles my top lip, while mine embraces her bottom lip. We don’t move. Our mouths simply touch and press. I don’t crush her to me or take over. Now isn’t the time, but it gives me hope that that time will come. For now, I remain completely motionless. This isn’t a passionate kiss. It’s a kiss of gratitude and pure affection. It’s an intimate acknowledgement of the connection that binds us.
Her heartfelt care feels like a flashlight beam lighting up my insides, destroying the darkness within.
When she gently pulls away and takes a step back, I can see she doesn’t know what to do or say next, and neither do I.
Not until my gaze falls to the shoulder of her dress and the dampness I’ve left behind.
“Well, I guess I finally got some payback,” I say, hoping to break the tension.
Startled out of her awkwardness, she frowns. “Sorry?”
I touch her shoulder, waiting until she notices the wet fabric. “Payback for slobbering all over my shirts.”
She gasps, her eyes sparking with amusement. “I didnotslobber on you!”
“Pretty sure you did.”
She punches my arm with a laugh. “At least it wasn’t man-slobber.”
As she steps away, I tug her back. “I’m sorry … if I made you uncomfortable. I embarrassed myself.”
“You didn’t.” She squeezes my hand, her face growing serious. “All I saw was a man not afraid to feel. To me, that’s beautiful and brave. And like you told me … honest.”
Christ, I want to give this woman the world, but I don’t even know where to fucking start when I have nothing to offer her. Though, now that we have her father’s video, there’s a good chance that’s going to change. Just not this instant.
