Redeeming You(71)
“C’mere,” he said pulling Taylor into his arms, running his hand up and down her back in slow rhythmic strokes.
Blinking back her tears, she buried her face in his chest. Don’t fall apart. Don’t do it, she told herself over and over. This night was about Chasing Ruin and Cam, not her emotional wreckage.
“Did you know he was coming?”
She shook her head, still refusing to look him in the eyes.
“Tay, look at me.”
“No,” she whimpered.
He moved his hands down her arms until he held her hands in his.
She looked down at their intertwined hands and she saw his swollen and bloody knuckles. “What the hell?”
“I couldn’t let that asshole get away with saying that shit about the girl I love,” he said, his tone and face totally unrepentant. He wiped a tear from her cheek. “And then when I saw your face, you were so hurt, I lost it. I wanted to kill him.”
She put a hand over her mouth, shaking her head. “Wait a second. Can you rewind a minute?”
“What?” he asked cocking his head to the side.
“Did you just say you love me?” She whispered the words not entirely sure she heard him correctly.
“I know we haven’t been together for long and I didn’t want to say anything to scare you away, but I love you, Tay.”
Her eyes swam with tears again. “But why?”
He pushed her hair out of her eyes, then cupped her face. “There’s so much to love about you, I don’t know where to start. I love the way you bite your lip when you’re nervous. I love the way you change the color of your hair whenever you feel like it. I love that you need training wheels to take a shot of tequila—”
She burst out laughing. “For the record, I only used the training wheels on the first shot.”
“If you say so.” He pulled her tight against his body and brushed a kiss across her lips. “I love the way you shiver when I touch you.” One of his hands slipped under her shirt and as if on cue, she shivered. “See,” he whispered against her lips.
Lifting her legs around his waist, he pushed open the back door and the wind whipped her hair in front of her face. “I love the color of your eyes and the way you look at me as though you understand me even when I don’t understand myself.”
The driver opened the car door and Cam slid into the car still holding her.
“What I can’t take is not knowing whether you love me because what I feel for you is so big and unlike anything I’ve ever felt before that I’d hate to think I’m in this thing alone.”
It was everything she needed him to say and everything she had ever dreamed of him saying to her. It made her believe that she could actually have her happy ever after, something she hadn’t hoped for since her dad died.
“I love you, Cam Donovan. I don’t care where you’ve been or what you did in the past. I love you because I see you and you’re beautiful inside and out.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she wrapped her arms around his neck, their heartbeats blending together like music as she breathed him deep into her soul. “I just hope you can put up with me because I’m not an easy person to love.”
“Loving you isn’t hard.” Taylor opened her eyes as Cam’s long, talented fingers slid under her chin, tipping her face upward. His thumb brushed away the last of her tears and his unwavering blue-eyed gaze held her captive. “It’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”