Or maybe…
“You didn’t ask if there was anyone else because you already know there isn’t and that there hasn’t been in all the time you’ve been gone. Am I right?”
He doesn’t even have the dignity to look ashamed.
He just steps back up to me and puts his hands on my face, where they’ve always belonged, tilting my eyes up to meet his. He stares deep into them.
“When I walked away from you, it was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. The only thing that made it manageable was knowing that I wasn’t letting you go forever. Daisy, I might have let you go then, but I didn’t let you go far. And, honestly, if I’d gotten a whiff of another guy sniffing around, then I’d have gone back on my self-imposed promise to stay away until Jesse was eighteen, and I’d have come here, broken the guy’s face, then carried you back to my house, and never let you go.”
Well…shit.
What am I supposed to say to that? Unsure, I go with what I always go with when I’m stumped. Humor.
“Should I take it that your stalking ways are still going full force then?”
His eyes spark and grin at me.
I shake my head, fighting a smile.
I really shouldn’t smile right now. Because it’s not funny.
“Honestly, how the hell did you manage to stalk me when you weren’t even here, when you were off traveling the world?”
His brows draw together. “I didn’t say I was off traveling the world. I said, I was in Greece for a while, and then I traveled a bit.”
“And where did you travel to?”
A hint of something I don’t quite understand flickers through his eyes.
“Why do you want to know?” he asks.
“Because you’re acting like you have something to hide, and I want to know what it is.”
“Well”—he clears his throat—“I was in Greece. Then, I wasn’t…and I was here…traveling back and forth between Westcott…and London.” Even though he cleared his throat, his words still come out gravelly.
And my eyes widen to saucers. “Oh my God! You’ve been here all this time!” I step back, stunned and also hurt.
I feel like he’s betrayed me—although I’m not quite sure how.
He follows me forward, his hands landing on my shoulders. “Not the whole time. I did go to Greece. I stayed there for six months. Then, I came back.”
“You’ve been here for three years! Jesus, Kas.” I shake my head.
“I stayed away for as long as I could. As long as it took to get my head straight. Then, I came home. I wanted to be closer to you. If I had to wait to have you, then I was going to be close to you while I did so.”
“Jesus…” I breathe, staring up at him. “I don’t know whether to be freaked out that you’ve been basically stalking me for the last three years. Or feel bowled over with emotion at the fact that you couldn’t stay away from me.”
I have the sudden urge to start singing The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” but I don’t because that would be weird.
And how could he be here for all that time and me not know?
Or maybe, subconsciously, I did know, and that was why I could never get over him.
Kas gives me a sheepish but hopeful look. “Can we just go with bowled over?”
The look on his face is…so boyish that I can’t help but smile. “You have serious issues, Matis.”
“Just one. And she goes by the name Daisy.”
I give him a playful scowl.
And he smiles, but his expression quickly turns serious. “I want you to be my issue. And I want to be yours. I want you to be my everything. And I want to be your everything.” His hand lifts to my face, cupping it. “I want a life with you, Daisy. Try again with me, please. Just say yes. Just tell me you still love me and say yes.”
Pressing my cheek into his hand, I close my eyes, reveling in the feel of him. I already know my decision. I knew it the moment I turned around and saw him standing there.
I open my eyes and smile. “I still love you, Kas. And, yes. Yes, a million times over.”
His face breaks out into the biggest and most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen. Then, his lips are on mine, and he’s kissing me. I never want him to stop.
And, now, I know he will never stop. Because he’s here to stay.
It wasn’t our time before. But it’s our time now.
I once thought of Kas and me as totally unsuitable for one another. We were unsuitable.
But, now, we’re perfect.
Okay, well, maybe not perfect.
He’s killed in revenge. Killed for me. And I shot a man dead.
But we’re perfect for each other, and that’s all that matters.
He breaks our kiss, breathing heavily. “So, Thessa’s.” He nods his head toward the front of the shop. “Does that have anything to do with Thessaloníki?” he says with a touch of accent to that sexy voice, making my lady bits perk up. “Or is it just a coincidence?”
A blush covers my face. I lower my eyes. “I just wanted something to remember you by,” I whisper. “Something to remind me that you were real.”
He tips my chin up with his fingers, bringing my eyes to his. “I’m real, babe. And I’m here to stay. I’m never leaving you again.”
And I know he means it.
“I’m never letting you go,” I tell him right before his lips fall back to mine.