Was she dreaming? Sophia blinked back another tear. She didn’t—couldn’t—believe him. She wanted him to say it again, say more. Desperately wanted this not to be a dream. She took one of the small stones from the table and felt the reassuring reality of its weight.
She could never have dreamed this.
‘I’ve long denied it,’ Felipe said. ‘I pretended I felt nothing other than hate for you these last years.’ He bowed his head. ‘I dated other women but none ever…’ He dragged in a jerky breath. ‘The truth is I fell in love with you years ago. And I’ve always been afraid you didn’t feel the same and I know I screwed up. So badly.’
She knew that fear. Other women had always blatantly shown interest in him. Years ago she’d been afraid he’d leave her for someone else. She’d been insecure, too young, their lives too different.
Now she stared at the table. She couldn’t believe he’d kept all these little things just because they’d been hers. She didn’t think him a stalker. He’d always had a big heart. And she’d always wanted it to be hers.
She set the pebble back on the table with the others, heart side up. ‘These weren’t a clue?’
He flushed. ‘Not enough. I needed more certainty.’
She understood that need, too. ‘I’d hold my breath every spring in case Dad changed his mind about whether we’d come here for summer. Then I’d be scared that you’d have gone away. Or that you’d have a girlfriend. I was always twisted up about you. So I played it cool every time I came back until I knew you were still here. Still free.’
Still mine.
‘I’ve never felt anything for anyone else like what I’ve always felt for you,’ she admitted.
And when he’d finally kissed her it had been heaven.
He looked distressed. ‘I should have come to you after Ares married. I should have come to you long before that. I’ve been in denial for far too long and wasted so much time.’
But so had she. She’d avoided returning here—she, too, had been terrified.
‘When I asked you to marry me yesterday I thought you’d be more likely to say yes if I pitched it as a “deal.” Truth is I wanted you in my bed, with my ring on your finger, before admitting how I really felt. I thought I’d need to seduce you to stay.’
Sophia’s bones ached as his admission sank in.
‘I wanted certainty when I should have been offering you that,’ he said. ‘You’re not a trophy, not some bonus. You’re infinitely precious, you’re everything to me and I’ll do whatever it takes to convince you.’
‘I don’t need convincing,’ she cried. ‘I just need a kiss—’
He almost knocked the table over in his haste, and the kiss was both frantic and sweet and not nearly enough before he broke it.
‘Come on.’ He refilled the tin, tucked it under his arm and took her hand in his.
He had a car around the corner but they drove for only twenty minutes along a very familiar route. Sophia stared as the gates opened.
‘Felipe?’
‘I bought it fifteen months ago. My mother worked here almost all her life and she loved it until the end.’
Sophia’s heart flooded with pleasure for the woman. ‘So it really was her home?’
‘And she didn’t have to work anymore.’ He unlocked the door and drew her inside.
It was so familiar, so beautiful, so beloved.
‘She used to ask when I was bringing you back here, too.’
‘Felipe…’
Passion ignited and they stumbled into the hall. Finally together in the place she’d fallen in love with him. Finally free to hold him and have him in every way she wanted. Forgetting the heartbreaking moments of the last time she’d been here.
‘What can I do, Sophia?’ he muttered. ‘How can I show you?’
‘Well…’ She leaned back and took his face between her palms and sent him a tremulous smile. ‘You could just marry me.’
And one year later, that was exactly what he did.
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