Page 101 of I'll Be There
He swallowed. “I faked my death so that I—we—could be free.”
“I wasn’t free.”
He nodded. And then, because he had no other words beyond apology, he leaned down and pressed his forehead to her leg, his body trembling. “I’m so sorry, Blue. I’m so sorry.”
Shoot, and now he was probably crying. He tightened his jaw against a terrible heat in his chest.
Silence. He listened to his shuttered breaths, and realized he might be only making it worse. Hurting her with his regrets. The what-ifs.
He should go.
Then, her hand went to his hair, wove fingers through it. “You cut your hair, too.”
He lifted his head, looked at her. Tears hung on her beautiful lashes.
“I liked it long. Weaving my fingers through it.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “I missed you.”
His throat closed over any possible words.
“I kept the phone.”
He nodded.
“Because I never stopped trusting you.”
Oh, no—
“Because Iknewyou loved me, Justin. And I loved you back.”
Loved. He clenched his jaw. Forced out the words. “I did—”I do.
“And I still do. I never stopped loving you, Justin.” A hiccup of breath, so much emotion in her eyes, he couldn’t stop his own tears from glazing his eyes. She ran a thumb across his cheekbone. “I would have waited for you for a thousand years.”
The words tugged a smile up one side of his face. “A thousand—”
“More.”
Then, with a groan that ripped through him, he leaned forward and kissed her. A desperate pouring out of seven-plus years of longing, of missing, of hoping. Her arms went around his neck as she pulled him down, kissing him back with a ferocity, a passion that he’d never stopped loving about Blue. Pure tenacity, pure courage.
His Blue.
He lowered himself onto the bed, sitting, wrapping his arms around her, slowing them down and deepening their kiss. Lingering, savoring, remembering.
I love you, Blue. I’ll find you. I promise, I’ll find you.
She relaxed against him, slowing, catching his face. Leaning back. Smiling, finally.
It lit up his entire body.
His voice had left him, and he ran a thumb down her freckles. “We’re safe now, Blue. Blankenship is dead. And I...I’m out. I walked away from the NSA. That life. I’m free. And all yours.”
“Allmine?”
“Heart. Soul. Body.” Except. He took her hand, brought it to his lips. “Marry me, Blue. We’ll start over, have a good life. The one you deserve.”
She just stared at him, her mouth dropping open.
“Too soon?” He said. “I’ll wait—we’ll begin again—”
“No,” she said, and his heart stopped, a cold ball in his chest. Then, she caught his hand on her face. “I don’t need to wait. I know the only life I want is one with you. As long as you love me, I will follow you anywhere. Wait for you forever.” She smiled at him. “Yes, I will marry you.”
He met her eyes, sank into the love in them. “No more waiting.” And when he kissed her again, he knew the truth.
If something happens to me, call my brother.
Conner Young had kept his promise.
