Off Base(66)

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” His hands closed around her hips, hauling her between his thighs. She suddenly didn’t think she was the only one whose heart might explode. “When you started talking about moving back home, leaving Black Rock, leaving me … it felt like a knife was stabbing me right here.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart. His eyes crawled over every inch of her face, his gaze penetrating past skin and bone, burrowing deep into her soul. “It still does.”

“Oh,” she breathed, her too-tight chest lifting, trying to pull in air. She supposed she could tell him she had no intention of moving. Maybe later. After he said everything he came here to say.

“Oh,” he echoed. “There’s only one way to make it stop. Only one way to fix me.”

She moistened her lips. “Well, then tell me. I’m a nurse. It’s my responsibility to—”

He silenced her with a kiss, his mouth slanting and moving on hers until she forgot whatever it was she was meant to say. He pulled back, leaving her gasping, his hand cupping her cheek. “Stay.”

“W-what?” Her voice trembled from her lips, but it was nothing compared to the way her heart shuddered inside her chest.

“I need you to stay. To live here. With me.” His fingers tightened over hers. “I need you to love me back.”

Her heart overflowed at those words. “Cullen,” she choked. “You love me?”

“I love you. I always have. I just didn’t know. You’re in my blood, Huntley. If you go, I’m lost.”

She nodded jerkily, blinking, trying not to cry. “I’m not going anywhere. I never intended to. This is my home.”

Relief flashed across his face. “Well, that’s good to know.”

“As far as loving you,” she continued. “I do. I have. For a long time.”

He brought his other hand up, framing her face in both hands. “So. Are you moving into my place, or am I moving into yours?”

She laughed. “Isn’t that a little sudden? A little bit—”

“Sweetheart, we’ve been dating for years. We just didn’t realize it.” He smiled, but his eyes drilled into her—intense, solemn. “And I don’t want to spend another night without you.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “You don’t waste time.”

“I know what I want.” His thumb traced her mouth. “And all this time we could have been having sex.”

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” she agreed, bringing her other hand up to his chest, reveling in the hardness of his flesh beneath her palm and hating the clothes barring her from complete access.

“Why don’t we get a new place together?” he suggested, kissing her jaw, her throat, inching toward the collar of her scrubs. “A fresh start for both us?”

“We might as well.” She nodded in approval.

“Some place big enough for all the kids we’re going to have.”

“Kids?” Her heart jumped wildly in her chest. She tugged his face back up.

“Well, yeah, we’ll get married first, of course. But there will be babies, Huntley.”

Tears burned in her eyes; there was no stopping them. She wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand. She tried to speak, but a broken sob escaped instead.

“This isn’t very romantic, is it?” He frowned as if the idea just occurred to him. “Proposing this way. I should have—”

“It’s perfect.” She sniffed, her fingers curling into his shirt, gripping hard. “It’s beautiful. It’s you. I wouldn’t want anything different.”

“I won’t fail you.” He smoothed a hand over her hair.

“I know you won’t.”

“I’ll try to give you everything, Huntley.”

“Just love me.”

“Done.” He kissed her again, slow and deep and forever.