Project Runaway Bride(54)

He shook his head, the tendons in his throat working as he swallowed hard. Untangling his fingers from hers, he cupped her elbows instead, tugging her just a fraction closer until only the slightest whisper of air could pass between them.

“It makes me crazy. My chest gets so tight I can barely breathe, and my heart stops beating altogether.”

Juliet inhaled sharply. The moisture that had been prickling behind her eyes for the past few minutes suddenly spilled over to roll down her cheeks.

“Baby or no baby,” he continued in a voice rough with emotion, “I’m in love with you, Juliet Zaccaro. I want to marry you, be with you forever, work on that whole home-hearth-and-family American dream I never thought I’d have. That is, if you’ll have me.”

She was crying in earnest now, giant tears running in rivulets down her face and messing up the makeup she really shouldn’t have worn today. But though she suspected she was on her way to looking like a Halloween reject, she couldn’t have cared less.

She was staring into the eyes of the man she loved, and he’d just told her he loved her, too.

“Of course I’ll have you,” she told him.

Resting her palms flat on his chest, she felt the pounding of his heart beneath the layers of fabric and flesh and muscle, and knew it matched the staccato beat of her own.

“I love you, Reid. I never could have gotten involved with you when I did, the way I did, if I hadn’t already been headed pretty strongly in that direction. It broke my heart to walk away from you—both times—but I did it because I didn’t think you felt the same about me, and I didn’t want to start down the path of yet another convenient but loveless relationship that was likely to end in disaster.”

Going up on tiptoe, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed as his slipped around her waist to hug her tight, picking her right up off the ground.

“Even if I hadn’t found out I was pregnant,” she said quietly against his neck, “I couldn’t have gone through with the wedding. I don’t want to be married to a man I’m not totally and completely in love with, or one who doesn’t feel that way about me. And the only man I’m totally and completely in love with is you.”

Reid leaned back to meet her gaze, his soft chocolate eyes so warm and inviting that if she was standing on her own two feet, she was pretty sure her knees would have buckled and she’d have melted into a puddle on the floor.

“I’m glad you’re pregnant,” he told her in return. “It will give me an excuse to rush you down the aisle and make sure you’re wearing my ring on your finger for the rest of your life.”

“I like that idea,” she said. “Very much.”

“So do I,” he whispered against her lips before taking her mouth in a long, sultry kiss.

When they came up for air, she was boneless and very possibly mindless, as well. They were pressed together from chest to knee, and since he was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment, she hoped they stayed that way forever. Especially when having him wrapped around her like cellophane was one of her favorite pastimes.

“How would you feel about giving me a tour of your bedroom before your family realizes we’re here?” he murmured against her lips. “I’m especially interested in testing out the bed.”

She chuckled. “I think that could be arranged. But you do realize you’re going to have to sit through dinner with my parents afterward, don’t you? And we’re going to have quite a bit of explaining to do.”

Quite a bit, she thought with a silent snort. Talk about a big, fat understatement.

“Whatever it takes to win them over and make you my wife,” he said as she turned and led him by the hand into the bedroom.

Since he wasn’t actually interested in the room itself, he didn’t bother looking around. They went straight to the bed and stood at its edge, facing one another. She tipped her gaze up to his and he lifted a hand to her cheek, stroking back and forth with the pad of his thumb.

“Thank you for giving me a second chance,” he whispered, so close she could smell the last remaining hint of his cologne.

She knew he wasn’t just talking about now; he was talking about the past and the present and the future. A second chance to make right everything that had gone wrong and move forward into the best life either of them could ever have, as long as they were together.

Running her fingers through the silky hair at his temples, she held him tight and touched her forehead to his. “Thank you for not letting me get away.”

“Never,” he promised, his hands flexing at her waist. “Finding people is what I do, sweetheart. And I will always find my way back to you.”