My heart finds a hole in the floor and drops completely out of sight. While I wish I could hate him for all that he’s done to me, I thrill at the tingle that I get from his closeness. It’s as though all my cells are excited by the presence of his, the way water is excited by heat.
I say nothing. I just stand and stare at him. I could stand and stare at him for the rest of my life and never get tired.
He says nothing either, just lets his eyes rove over my face. Finally, he moves, but only one hand, which he raises to brush over my cheek.
“You’ve been crying,” he says softly.
“Yes,” I answer flatly.
“Over me.”
“Yes.” There’s no sense denying it.
His eyes glow with profound sadness that even I can see. “I’d rather die than hurt you.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because I’m an ass, Kennedy. Because I’m a driven, selfish ass just like my father. But mostly because I was completely unprepared. For this. For you.” Reese takes a step toward me. Slow, tentative, like he’s afraid I’ll spook. “I didn’t see you coming, Kennedy. I didn’t see you coming fourteen years ago and I didn’t see you coming two months ago. I let things get in the way last time, but I’m not about to make the same mistake twice.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Reese. I won’t be the other woman. I can’t do that. I worked too hard to find something worthy in myself to let you destroy it for money. I just…I just can’t do that.”
“And you shouldn’t have to. You should be first. You are first. I just failed to see that I wasn’t putting you first. But I do now. I see it and I need for you to know that you’re the only thing that matters to me. I can’t let you go. Not again. Not ever again. Not even if you tell me to leave. Not even if you beg me to walk away. I can’t do it. You gave me something real in the woods that summer. You made me feel.
“I’ve made millions, I’ve dined with diplomats, I’ve had the very best of everything in life, but I’ve never felt happy, really happy, until you told me you’d work on my boat. And every moment since then has been the best of my existence. Until you walked away.”
He pauses, staring down at me with those gorgeous blue-green eyes, turning my heart, my soul, my world upside down all over again.
“I’m here for you, Kennedy. I’ve come for you. Without anything else…just me…I’m laying me…all of me…at your feet and begging you to take it. Give me one more chance.”
“Reese, I can’t—”
He interrupts me before I can continue. “I broke it off with Claire. No amount of money or business connections or opportunities or investments or contracts are worth losing you. I gave it all up. For you. I sold the boats and the businesses, it’s all gone. I sold yesterday, tomorrow and forever for you,” he declares, no doubt referring to the names of his boats, Ieri, Domani and Sempre. “The only forever I want is with you. Nothing in my life means more to me than you. No money, no power, no possessions. I don’t need any of that. I only need you. I. Only. Need. You.”
“Wh-what?” I whisper, afraid I might’ve heard what I want to hear rather than what Reese is really saying.
“I got rid of it all. From the time you left, I spent thirty-one hours straight pouring over books and crunching numbers, talking with attorneys and preparing proposals. Making phone calls at all hours of the day and night. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait to get rid of every empty thing that might stand in our way so that I could chase you down and prove that I’d do anything for you. Anything. Just say it and it’s done. I don’t want a life away from you. You are my life. I want you to be my life. And I want to be yours.”
“But Reese, everything you’ve worked for …”
“Is hollow. It’s just money. Worthless when compared to you. I’ve still got more than I could spend in a hundred lifetimes, but if that’s a problem, then I’ll throw it all away for you. I’ll be destitute if that’s what it takes. I need you to understand that there is nothing…nothing…in this world that’s more important to me than you.”
“I never asked you to do this, Reese. I didn’t want you to give up everything for me.”
“But can’t you see that I’d do it without blinking an eye if I thought it would bring you back to me? I did do it. For you. I don’t need the boats or the women or the distractions anymore. All that was filling a hole that only one person could ever fill, only one person did ever fill. And I wasn’t about to hold onto that shitty life and lose the only one I’ve ever wanted—a life with you.”
“Reese, you shouldn’t have done that. Not for me.”
“Fine, then I did it for me. I did it because those things don’t make me a better person. You do. I did it because those things don’t make me happy. You do. I did it because I was afraid that words alone couldn’t show you that I’m in it for real this time, Kennedy. I’ll chase you forever if I have to. I’ll never give up on winning your heart. Just please tell me that it’s not too broken to give away. Please tell me that I’m not too late. I worked as fast as I could.”
“Reese, I don’t know. It’s all just…so…so…I can’t think.”
“I don’t want you to think,” he says, grasping my upper arms urgently. “I want you to feel. Feel how much I love you. Feel how desperate I am, standing here in your doorway in the middle of the night, jetlagged as hell, ready to drop to my knees and beg you if that’s what it takes. Feel me, Kennedy,” he says, taking my left hand and pressing it to his chest over his heart. “Feel me.”
I do feel him. I feel his love and his sincerity and the way his heart is racing under my palm. I know it’s an echo of the frantic rhythm of my own.
“Please,” he whispers, leaning closer and closer until his lips are pressed to my forehead, my hand still pressed to his chest. “Please, Kennedy.”
I feel the sting behind my eyes again and I know I can’t stop the tears that well there then spill over to run down my cheeks.
“Okay,” I say in a small, trembling voice.
Reese’s chest falls under my fingertips, as though he was holding his breath. “Say it again,” he croaks.
“Okay.”