Hell on Wheels (Black Knights Inc. #1)(93)

Chapter Twenty


When Nate received word he had a visitor at the front gate, Ali was the dead last person he expected.

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw her leaning in the window of the new and improved guardhouse, giggling and teasing Manus, who was almost fully recovered from his injury and blushing like a schoolboy with his first crush.

He stumbled, fighting the urge to fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness for…everything. For not getting out of those damned ropes sooner so he could save Grigg’s life. For all the years he’d made her uncomfortable by being all Abominable Snowman. For the harsh way he’d treated her the night she came to his bedroom. For the awful, he-needed-a-swift-kick-in-the-ass things he’d said to her that morning at the Happy Acres. For being a coward and avoiding her calls so he wouldn’t have to hear the hatred and grief in her sweet, sunny voice.

“What’r’ ya doin’ here, Ali?” he asked instead, his stupid heart trying to beat right out of his chest.

She turned laughing eyes on him, and all he could think was she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

“Wow,” she grinned, and that sweet, mischievous expression nearly felled him. He’d survived hunger and dehydration and broken bones and gunshot wounds and torture, but Ali’s smile was enough to have him giving up the ghost. “Why do I feel like we’ve been here before?”

He couldn’t answer her, not when he was in the middle of dying a slow, excruciating death.

Then she was running…toward him.

He braced himself for the blows he so richly deserved but—

Kisses.

Those were hot little kisses falling all over his face and…those were her smooth, slender arms twining around his neck and…sweet lovin’ Lord, those were her fingers buried in the hair at his nape.

He was dreaming. Had to be.

Ali hated his friggin’ guts for killing her brother. She hated him for all the years of dark looks and even darker thoughts. She hated him for his repeated rejections and the unforgivable way he treated her after he’d finally succumbed to his body’s demands. She hated him for all the reason she should hate him.

So, this was a dream. A sweet, wonderful dream, because there was no way she’d be here now, clinging to him like she never intended to let go, peppering him with soft kisses and murmuring how much she’d missed him.

Funny thing, though…she felt so real in his arms, so soft and alive and—

Honeysuckle.

He drew the delicious aroma of honeysuckle deep into his nose.

“Ali?” he pulled back, searching her golden eyes, holding his breath when he saw—

“I love you,” she breathed, and the earth came screeching to a halt in its orbit.

He shook his head, unable to comprehend, unable to believe. “But…but…”

“And I don’t care if you don’t love me, because you will. Besides, you need me, whether you know it or not.”

“But…but…” Uh, broken record anyone?

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before, I would’ve told you this before if you’d just answered your frickin’ phone, but…thank you. Thank you for what you did for Grigg that terrible day.”

Oh, sweet Jesus!

That was it.

He fell to his knees right there on the pavement, ignoring the hey-what-the-hell! shout his kneecaps sent screaming into his brain. Ali, locked tight in his arms, went with him.

“Shh,” she soothed as the warm September sun beamed down on them both, seeming to glow in triumphant welcome of the little spark that flickered to life inside his dark, tortured soul.

And…yep, those were his tears falling hot and wet into her soft hair as he shook so hard he thought he heard her teeth rattle.

“Shh, Nate,” she said again, turning her head to softly kiss the side of his convulsing neck.

Warm, her breath was so warm.

“Say it again” he choked, still unable to believe…

“Shh, Nate,” she whispered, moving her lips to his jaw.

“Not that part. The other part.”

“Thank you for—”

“No,” he cut her off, his heart waiting with bated breath. Had he been hallucinating? Had she said she…? “The other part.”

Her soft lips curved against his chin. “I love you, Nathan Douglas Weller.”

“Ali,” he crushed her to his chest, seeking and finding her sweetly wonderful mouth with his own as his heart totally Grinched it and grew two sizes in an instant.

He kissed her with everything he had, showed her with his lips and teeth and tongue the limitlessness of his love. She kissed him back with equal fervor and they probably would’ve started tearing at each other’s clothes if Manus hadn’t chosen that precise moment to clear his throat.

Ali pulled back, breathlessly laughing. “Let’s go—”

“—inside,” he finished for her, pulling her to her feet and running with her toward the shop.

“Nate!” she shrieked as he hastily unlocked the big metal door, throwing it open with a loud bang before hoofing it down the hall and up the stairs to the conference area, dragging her in his wake. “Slow down. We have all the time in the world to—”