Page 48 of Kyle
"No." He held up a hand. "You've told me so yourself. You also said I'm a slut. Those were your words, are you denying them?"
"No. I--"
"I'm not finished!" He snapped, causing her to lift her brows.
"I will have my say and would like you to be quiet."
The only reason she accommodated his order was because he looked like someone was torturing him. She nodded.
"I might have been that person back then. I'm not going to insult both of us by denying it. I like women and they like me back. I saw no reason not to take what they so freely offered. I was single and disengaged. And in the past I never believed in settling down."
She watched as he paced to the mantle and then back again, hands jammed into the pockets of his jogger. "I was never worthless, and I respect people's feelings." He glanced over at her and felt the emotions coursing through him.
He had been awake for hours, staring up at the ceiling before easing away from her to go and take a shower. "I want to know what you think of me now."
Her brows lifted. "I'm allowed to speak?"
"Yes, dammit." Lifting a hand, he dragged it through his already tousled hair. "I need to know if you still think I'm that person."
"No, I don't."
He stared at her with molten eyes. "Do you mean that?"
Stifling an impatient sigh, she dragged the sheets over her and stretched her legs out.
"I never say anything I don't mean."
"Good. Okay." He started pacing again.
"What's going on?"
He whirled to her, eyes hot. "I'm in love with you. That's what's going on. I've fallen head over heels, all the way gone over you." He said it in an accusatory tone that sent her reeling even further. "I never asked for this. Never asked for you."
His anger mounted as he started pacing again. "And now, Jesus! I cannot see my life without you in it. So, you're just going to have to deal with it. I need coffee."
Her mouth fell open when he simply strode from the room and slammed the door shut behind him.
She sat there in stunned silence, unsure whether to laugh, cry, or run after him. For a long moment, she stared at the closed door, feeling the echoes of his confession reverberate through the room. The vulnerability in his words lingered, unraveling the walls she had built around her heart.
Finally, she drew in a shaky breath and let herself smile, just a little, as she realized her world had shifted in ways she never expected.
She felt the hope and love tangled inside her, galvanizing her into action. The burst of energy pushed her off the bed and into the bathroom where she fondly noticed that he had left his shaving paraphernalia all over the counter. The man was a slob, she mused as she set about putting them away.
She stopped in the middle of the clean up and stared at herself in the double mirrors. She was a wife, doing wifely things and did not feel as if she was being stripped of her independence. She loved it.
She loved him and the damn man had stalked from the room without waiting to hear her say the words.
Shaking her head, she finished cleaning up and hopped into the shower. She was going to find him and shove the words down his bloody throat.
*****
He had two cups of coffee under his belt and was contemplating a third, with a dash of whiskey. He had not meant to say it to her yet and it had certainly not been the most romantic declaration, but anger and fear had consumed him while he laid there staring at the ceiling in the early hours. And like thorns, her words in the past had come back to haunt him.
So, he had jumped the bloody gun and blurted out his love for her. Well, he shrugged mentally as he contemplated the bleakness of the Sunday morning, the deed was done. He had never felt this way before.
He had thought he was in love with Carly, but what he felt for her was a shadow compared to what he was feeling now. The emotions were so sharp, so keen, they felt like knives slicing through his body.
He did not have to turn around to know she was there. She had brought with her the fresh raspberries scent of her bath. His shoulders stiffened as he continued to stare out the window.
