Thrill Ride (Black Knights Inc. #4)(99)

When he looked up to see her slowly descending toward the shop floor, trailing Steady, his heart damn near leapt out of his chest. She was so beautiful. So dark and exotic and courageous and smart and wonderful. Everything he’d never dared to dream and didn’t come close to deserving. Everything he was done pretending he didn’t want.

“If ya’ll will excuse me,” he said to the group still gathered around him, “I’ve got some unfinished business to attend to.”

Like Moses at the Red Sea, the Knights parted for him. He was at the stairs in two seconds, catching Vanessa around the waist before she could step from the last tread. Without warning, he didn’t dare give her any warning or she’d probably lay into him like she damned well should, he kissed her. And when her mouth opened on a surprised squeak, he really kissed her.

She stiffened, going stick-straight in his arms for a couple of interminable seconds during which time he feared he may have messed everything up so badly that there was no way to repair it. Then the most wonderful thing happened…

She kissed him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hooked an ankle behind his knee, went all soft and sexy like he’d been remembering in his dreams, and she kissed him back.

Someone started to applaud—Steady?—and Rock pulled back, smiling down at her.

“Rock?” There was a question in her big, dark eyes. A question he was good and well ready to answer.

“J’taime, mon amour,” he told her, I love you.

“Oh, Rock,” she sobbed, burying her face in his shoulder, but not before he’d seen the tears standing in her eyes.

“Shh,” he whispered, cupping the back of her head.

“I h-hate crying in-in-in front of everybody,” she sobbed quietly into his motorcycle jacket. “I’m sssssupposed t-to be tough.”

“Woman,” he crooned, kissing her ear. “You’re the toughest, bravest person I know.”

She shook her head, her face still buried in his shoulder.

Turning toward the group, “We, uh,” he jerked his chin and eyes upward. “We’re gonna go—”

“Yeah,” Boss cut him off. “Get lost, will ya? We’re already sick and tired of looking at that ugly mug of yours.”

Rock chuckled, nodding, before he bent and hooked an arm under Vanessa’s knees and hoisted her up against his chest. She squawked out a protest, but he ignored her as he took the stairs two at a time, the Knights clapping and whistling in his wake.

***

Sometime later…

“Hmmm,” Vanessa moaned blissfully, rolling off Rock who was still winded and sweaty. “That was nice.”

“Nice?” he lifted his chin, frowning over at her until his goatee drooped. “Just nice?”

“Deliciously nice,” she clarified, leaning toward him to nibble his earlobe.

“Hmmm.” He let his head drop back to the pillow, turning his chin to give her better access to that ear. She loved when he did that. She loved him. And, miracle of miracles, he loved her. If she were any happier, she’d probably explode into a cloud of Valentine chocolate–box dust. Just…poof. “Now that’s nice,” he said, his arm snaking around her shoulders to pull her close.

For a few minutes they nuzzled and snuggled and laughed, then she pressed back, leaning up on her elbow in order to prop her cheek in her hand. “Rock?”

“Call me Richard,” he murmured, eyes closed, dark lashes creating a fan of shadows on his cheeks. He was sliding a lazy hand up and down her hip. “I love it when you call me Richard.”

She bit her lip, smiling. “Richard?”

“Oui, chere?”

“Why did you change your mind?”

“Change my mind about what?”

“About loving me?” At this, his eyes snapped open and he searched her face. For some reason, her heart began to flutter and she pressed ahead quickly, “See, I figured you’d gone back to Louisiana to reassure yourself that loving someone hurt too bad. That letting me love you would eventually hurt me too bad. I imagined you standing over Lacy’s grave and—”

He placed a finger over her mouth, nodding his head. “Oui, I went back to Louisiana and I visited Lacy’s grave. And maybe I did it to try to bolster my stance on love.” Now her heart wasn’t fluttering, it was pounding. “But you know what happened as I was standing there in the sunshine with the Spanish moss hangin’ down from all the trees, the birds chirpin’ and the squirrels playin’?”

She shook her head, unable to look away from his sparkling eyes.

“I realized all I was rememberin’ were the good times, the happy times. With Lacy, with my parents. And it occurred to me, that though their deaths were painful, I wouldn’t give up the times I had with them for anything. The sweet times, the lovin’ times are worth everything else that comes along in this ol’ life, even the agony of loss. And that’s when I knew I’d been a fool. See, I didn’t change my mind about lovin’ you, Vanessa. I’ve loved you all along.” Oh, and weren’t those just about the sweetest words ever spoken? “I just changed my mind about admitting it to myself, and about letting you love me.”

“That’s a really good answer,” she told him, her smile so big it was making her cheeks hurt.