Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(94)

“What?”

“You. A fraud. You’re an even bigger romantic than I am.” He gently put the chocolate down and slid the curtain of hair she was hiding behind away from her eyes. “Deep down, you believe in finding the person of your dreams just like I do. Dani, you’re that woman for me. The one of my dreams. In all my dreams.”

With unyielding doubt, she shook her head. “I saw you and your ex together. It’s clear you two loved each other deeply.” Her voice cracked. “And that you still do.”

“Of course I still love her. I always will.” His eyes searched her face. “But that love absolutely pales in comparison to what I feel for you.”

“It can’t possibly! You spent years with her.”

He cradled her face, forced her to meet his gaze. “It’s not about time. It’s just about us.”

“What about us?!” She laughed bitterly. “We’re just...God, what are we? Neighbors with benefits? You two were ready to say ‘I do’. A day from getting married. How can you say you want a future with me when you were ready to spend that same future with her? You can’t have forever with more than one person!” Her agony raged with frustration.

“My mother did,” he reasoned quietly.

“And so did mine,” she countered bitterly. Her voice was so small, he almost didn’t hear her whisper, “But my father didn’t.” She gripped her fingers into his shirt. “What if you’re destined to have your mother’s future, and I’m destined to have my father’s?”

He covered her pounding heart with his hand. “Sweetie, I don’t think you realize your heart got broken long before your relationship with that unnamed * you still can’t bring yourself to tell me about. Your heart broke when your mom left you all and it never truly got fixed. How could it? You watched your dad continue to love your mom his entire life, even though that love never came back to him. Your heart was already vulnerable before your ex all but destroyed it.” Then he put her hand on his heart. “My heart’s been broken too—a lot. But being with you... Dani, I just love you so much. Every day, in every way, you’ve helped heal my heart.”

Gathering her close, he whispered, “So let me do the same for you. Let me love you.”

Fresh tears glittered her eyes.

“I know it’s a risk. For you and me, Dani. Look at my life; I’m a realist about how things never work out the way we expect. And even though loving you may end up crushing my heart, I’m not going to stop believing in forever love or the possibility that you’ll be the one sharing it with me.” He drew in a slow breath and stroked a hand through her hair. “Loving you is something I can’t not do in the same way I can’t just stop needing oxygen. Not knowing how long I’m going to keep breathing isn’t going to stop me from taking my next breath.”

She hid her face against his chest, her tears soaking his shirt.

“So maybe I’m not that guy from the movies who knows without a shadow of a doubt that he’ll get the girl and they’ll end up happily ever after. I’m just a guy who loves you so much that, even without the guarantee of the happily ever after, I’ll love you uncontrollably anyway.” He wrapped her up in his arms. “I just hope that one day, even if you still don’t believe in forever, you’ll at least find yourself loving me beyond today or tomorrow too.”

Her heart just about burst out of her rib cage at his words. She responded immediately. Though it came out as a rumbled purr against his skin that paused his hand mid-stroke in her hair.

“What?” he asked.

More inaudible words went into hiding in his shirt.

“Woman, the very least you could do after I declare my hopeless, undying devotion to you is speak loud enough for me to hear your response.”

She jerked her head up and mock-glared at him. “You’re so pushy! And unbelievably moronic if you think you’re not even more impossibly, ridiculously romantic than any guy in any stupid movie.” She tried to maintain her composure as a sexy, happy grin transformed his face from handsome to gut-punchingly magnificent. “And those aren’t even your worst qualities! You’re sneaky, old-fashioned, and…insatiable! I have no clue why I already love you beyond just today or tomorrow, but I do.” At the elation she saw lighting his eyes, a small, irrepressible smile snuck past her lips. “I clearly need to have my head examined!” she quipped dryly.

“Well,” he sighed, “not the most romantic declaration of love, but then again, you are Dani Dobson.”

She stomped on his foot and blocked his efforts at a kiss.

Laughing and nursing his now bruised foot, he fell backward onto her sofa, pulling her down with him. “And that’s why I love you so much,” he finished.

Smiling, she curled up against him and finally gave him the kiss he’d been seeking.

“Again,” he urged, moving on to nuzzle her ear. “I want to hear the words once more.”

“You’re pushy and unbelievably moronic—” Dani halted with a laugh when his teeth nipped her earlobe in warning. “And I love you. Beyond just today or tomorrow.”

A happy male sigh hummed out of him. He gathered her in close and tipped her head back. “So that chocolate you made for me was your way of telling me that?”