Page 108 of Declan
“Okay, you’ve seen that movie way too many times.” He laughed and held me tighter against him.
“I had no choice. You’re such a sexy Spartan.”
“You know, I…” Declan paused and looked away. “Never mind.”
“What? You can’t do that,” I said, tilting his face back to mine. “Tell me.”
Declan glided his thumb along my cheek and down to my mouth, staring at me with intense green eyes. Eyes that were pooling with tears.
“For years, I’ve loved acting because it allowed me to be someone else for a while,” he said, his voice shaking. “I hated myself so much that the only way to cope was to lose myself in the roles I took. And now? You’ve helped me accept myself. I don’t need to hide behind a character anymore. I love beingme.”
My heart jumped up into my throat.
“I love you being you, too,” I said, tracing the sharp line of his jaw. “This is who you’re meant to be, Dec. And you’re beautiful.”
He gently pulled me forward and kissed me. We’d kissed so much in the past few hours that my lips were chapped. But I didn’t mind it. There were very few things I enjoyed more than kissing my sexy Spartan. He had one of the kindest hearts I’d ever known. And the softest, sweetest lips.
Because the moment was way too serious, I justhadto say, “But I wouldn’t mind if Special Agent Pecs came out to play every once in a while.”
Declan snorted a laugh and buried his face in my hair. “I’m so glad you spilled your coffee on me. I had no idea that the freckled cutie who ruined my good suit would end up being the one person I can’t live without.”
The love I felt for him did funny things to my insides. Making me breathless, but also made me strong. I could handle anything life threw at me because he was by my side.
He said I had helped him love himself. I felt the same about him. My past boyfriends had hurt me. Used me. It’d given me a poor self-view and made me feel unworthy of love sometimes.
Declan had helped me see myself differently, too.
“I love you,” I said. The words weren’t enough to explain all the feelings inside me. “And it’s not because of your fame or your looks. It’s because you make me feel like I’m somebody. Like when you look at me, I don’t feel so small anymore. When you touch me, I feel like I can fly.”
Something flashed in his eyes at that. “I feel the same about you. I used to worry I’d fly too high and burn before falling back to earth. Drowning in the sea.”
“And now?”
“I don’t worry anymore.” He smiled and cupped my nape, pressing his head to mine. “Because I can swim.”
