Fighting Love
Page 20
She released a breath and then her eyes filled with tears. Zac held her close as she cried against his chest, all the tension pouring out of her with each drop of emotion.
Finally, her tears dried up, and Zac took a tissue from the box beside her bed, blotted her eyes, and smoothed back her hair.
“I should have told you. If I’d told you, none of this would have happened.”
“You don’t know that. You were scared. I get how fear can define you. But you don’t have to be scared anymore. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m so sorry I didn’t go straight to your house from Captain Jack’s. I’m sorry I didn’t let you explain while I listened with an open mind. I’m sorry I didn’t deck Mark the moment I saw the fear on your face. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I loved you last night. Because I do. I knew it then, but I didn’t say anything because we’re not ready for that. You’re not ready for that. But I do love you. More than I thought it was possible for me to love another person again, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to prove to you that my love is here, waiting for you. When and if you ever want to accept it.”
“You love me?”
“So much it hurts.”
Sophie took his hand and stared into Zac’s eyes. “I love you, too. I’m nervous, and I don’t know how to make these feelings work in my head right now, but I do. I know I do.” Sophie closed her eyes and sighed, the first hint of contentment crossing her face. “I’m so tired. So, so tired. But I’m afraid to sleep. Will you lie with me? Just until I fall asleep?”
Zac traced her cheek and gently kissed her forehead before settling in beside her, careful not to agitate her shoulder. “I’ll lie with you as long as you need.”
She closed her eyes again.
“Thank you for loving me.”
“Thank you for being you.”
Sophie settled against him and smiled once more, before drifting off to peaceful sleep.
Epilogue
“What do you mean I have to get in line?” Sophie tapped her gel nails against the table, Fire Captain Justin before her, blocking her from view.
“Well, we just didn’t think it would be fair if you got to bid on Zac first. You’re a sponsor, and you supplied all the baskets this year for the auction, and the Littleton brothers are always a big hit. So we decided . . .”
Sophie pushed her hair back behind her shoulders and stood taller so Mr. Six Foot a Gagillion Inches would know that she might be small, but she would lower his ass if he didn’t get out of her way and let her bid on her man.
Annie-Jean took the stage again, and Sam Hunt blared out over the speakers. “Next up we have our very own homegrown, deliciously handy, and perfectly tattooed Zac Littleton.”
Sophie tried to edge around Justin, but he held her back while the bidding started, and Sophie saw red. One by one, women raised their little fans, bidding again and again, higher and higher, oblivious to the fact that Zac was taken—120 percent taken. They couldn’t have him, not even for a good cause like the fire department. And besides, if Justin didn’t get the hell out of her way, this whole event was going to be a waste because Sophie’s head would explode and burn down the whole thing.
“He’s going to think I don’t care. I have to bid.”
“He knows we’re holding you back.”
“What?” Sophie shouted.
A woman from the back jumped the bidding by a hundred dollars, and Sophie had had enough.
She acted as though she were going to go left, then she jumped right and ran around Justin, narrowly escaping his outstretched hands.
“Going once, going twice,” Annie-Jean said.
“One thousand dollars,” Sophie said as she rushed toward the stage. But she hadn’t counted on the floor being so slippery and her heels being so wobbly, so she began to windmill in an effort to stop herself, but there was no stopping now. She tumbled headfirst to the floor.
A slow, entirely too sexy grin spread across Zac’s face at the same time that Annie-Jean called, “Sold to Sophie Marsh. Who might be injured now, so if she is, last bidder wins.”
Zac hopped off the stage and made his way to Sophie, his voice tinged with enthusiasm as he asked, “Need a hand there, sweetheart, or are you searching for something down there?”
Sophie glared at him as she stood up and brushed off her skirt, adjusted her hair, then stared at the man she loved. “You told Justin he could hold me back?”
“No, I told him I didn’t want to do this in the first place, but you said I had to. So here I am.”
“He made me wait to bid.”
“He baited you.”
“He what? Oh, I’ll show him bait.” Sophie spun around to go off on Justin, but Zac wrapped a hand around her middle instead.
“I’m sure you will, but I had something else in mind.”
“Drenching him in whipped cream in the vein of Carrie?”
Zac chuckled. “Uh, no. Justin’s a big boy. Would be an awful waste of whipped cream.”
She sighed. “That’s true. So what then?”
He draped her arms around his neck and pulled her to him. “You kiss me.”
Sophie bit back a grin. “That’s against the rules, you know. Dates are supposed to be purely for fun, purely platonic. No smexy stuff.”
“I didn’t say a thing about sex, but I like where your head is. In fact, let’s work out the rest of that thought. Your place or mine?”
“You’re such a flirt.”
“Only with you.” Then Zac turned her around and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Only with you.”
“I love you,” Sophie said, rising onto her toes to kiss him.
“I love you, too,” Zac said. He pressed his lips to her neck, then the delicate skin below her ear and whispered, “Now about that smexy stuff . . .”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa West writes heartfelt Southern romance and teen sci-fi romance, all with lots of kissing. Because who doesn’t like kissing? She lives outside of Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two daughters and spends most of her time writing, reading, or fueling her coffee addiction.
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