Page 123 of Faking All the Way
Shock crashes through me as my eyes flick over the words again and again. So strong and sudden that it jolts something inside me. Whatever had been keeping me still, keeping me frozen in place by fear and doubt and Alexis’s poison words.
He’s willing to walk away from the Denver contract. From the Aces, from everything he’s worked for his entire life. The dream he’s chased since he was a kid skating on frozen ponds. The thing that defines him, that he’s built his whole identity around.
Just for another chance with me.
That realization spurs me into action before I even realize I’m moving. Before my brain can catch up with my body.
Not thinking about anything else, not grabbing shoes or a coat or anything, I turn away from the window and race down the stairs. My feet pound on the wood, my hand sliding along the banister until I finally reach the first floor. I throw the back door open so hard it bangs against the wall as I burst into the back yard.
The snow is a shock against my bare feet, burning cold and sharp, but I don’t care. I don’t even slow down.
Asher is already coming out of the guest house, the door swinging open. The remaining signs tumble from his hands and scatter on the ground, white cardboard against white snow, as he strides toward me, his long legs eating up the distance.
We meet in the middle of the snowy space between the buildings, and I throw myself at him, my hands gripping his forearms.
“You can’t do it!” I blurt out, my voice cracking with emotion. “You can’t give up your dream, Asher. I won’t let you.”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, and this close, I can see the shadow of stubble on his jaw. “Why not?”
Before I can stop to consider it, the truth bursts out. No filter, no planning—just the words I’ve been holding back for days, too scared to say even to myself.
“Because I love you too much to let you sacrifice everything for me.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Asher
Kat’s confession slams into me, shocking my heart back to life.
For the past few days, I’ve been living like a shell of a person. Going through the motions, barely functioning. Convinced I’d lost her forever, that I’d fucked up the best thing that ever happened to me beyond repair. And those words she just said knock all the air back into my lungs, make my heart start beating again after days of feeling like it was barely pumping.
Standing in the guest house bedroom earlier, communicating with her through those signs across the distance the way we first did in those early days with texts, my stomach was in knots. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the cardboard pieces steady. Shaking with the fear that she would turn away from the window. That she would shake her head, that her expression would close down and I’d lose her all over again before I even had a chance to fight for her.
But instead, she stayed. She read every single sign. And when I saw her race to the door, saw her burst out into the snow barefoot, my feet carried me outside before I even consciouslydecided to move. As if something magnetic was pulling me toward her, giving me no choice but to go to her.
She loves me. She actually said it. Not a careful, hedged version of the words designed to protect herself from getting hurt. But the real thing, raw and unguarded and honest.
“I love you too, bright eyes,” I rasp, my voice hoarse. “So fucking much.”
Something flares in her eyes as I say it, so many emotions crossing her face that I can’t even track them all. Relief, joy, fear, hope, love—all of it mixes together in those green eyes I’ve been dreaming about for days.
Then she goes up on her toes at the same moment I drop my head, and our lips collide in a kiss.
It’s messy and desperate. Not pretty or romantic, but real. Tinged with days of bottled up fear and longing and the terror of thinking we’d lost each other. The taste of her tears mixes with the sweetness of her mouth as her hands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer as if she’s trying to merge us into one person. I palm the back of her head, my fingers tangling in her soft hair as I angle her head to deepen the kiss.
I can’t get close enough to her. My tongue slants against hers, tasting her, claiming her. My teeth nip at her bottom lip hard enough to make her gasp. Breathing in her scent, that cinnamon and almond smell that’s been haunting me, I kiss her over and over again, unable to stop.
When we finally pull apart, gasping for air, I rest my forehead against hers.
“I love you so much I can’t even remember what life was like before you,” I confess, the words pouring out. “I started falling from the very first moment at the airport. When you were panicked but brave enough to drag a stranger into some crazy scheme. I should have known then that you’d break down every wall I ever built around my heart.”
She laughs through her tears, the sound breaking in the middle. “I’m so fucking glad I said your name that day.”
I grin despite the cold and the fact that we’re both crying now. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her close against me, right where she belongs. “I’m so glad I got on that plane.”
I’m about to kiss her again, already leaning down—but then I remember where we are. She’s barefoot in the snow, and I can feel her whole body starting to shiver against me, her teeth chattering slightly from the cold.
“Fuck, it’s too cold to be out here like this.”
