A ridiculous shyness, a ludicrous nervousness, made her hands shake and tangled her tongue.
‘The house looks great.’
It did.
He suddenly frowned. ‘May I have a look at the bathroom?’
She gestured for him to go right ahead. It was easier than saying anything. It provided her with an opportunity to feast her eyes on him as he surveyed the newly appointed bathroom.
‘Do you like the shower unit?’
That unglued her tongue. She transferred her gaze from him to it and shook her head. ‘It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever clapped eyes on, Alex.’ Its fibreglass starkness seemed at odds with the rest of the room.
‘What on earth were you thinking?’
‘If it wasn’t for that shower unit I wouldn’t be here.
It’s that shower unit that’s made me come to my senses.’
She pressed a hand to her forehead. The man had gone mad.
‘And you. And Frank.’
She pul ed her hand away, narrowed her eyes.
Frank had been wonderful these past two weeks—
solicitous and caring, offering her practical help but giving her space too when he sensed she needed it.
The turncoat! He’d known Alex was here and he hadn’t—
‘He made me realize that running away from you and our child was the worst thing I could do.’
She promptly lowered the brand new lid of the toilet and sat before she fel . She covered her face with both hands. ‘Alex, please don’t do this to me. I can’t stand it. Me and the baby, we don’t want your guilt and your sense of duty and responsibility.’ She got that, she real y did, but… ‘That’s not what we need.’
‘Tel me what you do need, Kit.’
His voice, its intensity, made her lift her head. ‘We need your joy, Alex. We need your joy and your happiness, and we need your love.’ She dragged in a breath that made her whole frame shake.
She closed her eyes and counted to three. When she opened them again, Alex was stil there. She frowned. ‘I know those things are not on offer. I understand that you don’t have them to give. But please, don’t torture me with consolation prizes. I…I can’t stand it.’
He sat on the side of the bathtub so they were eye to eye. ‘But what if they are on offer, Kit? What if I tel you I’ve found my joy, my happiness and my love?
What if I tel you I’ve found al those things?’ He reached over and flattened his hand against her baby bump. ‘What if I tel you I know those things are here in this room with me? Kit, what if I tel you that you and our baby…’
She blinked. He’d said our baby. Not her baby or the baby but our baby!
‘…that you are my joy and my happiness and my love?’
She gripped her hands together. The only thing keeping her steady was his hand on her baby bump.
‘If you did by some miracle say those things to me, I’d say that you’d have a hard time convincing me of their truth.’
But his eyes, his smile, the light shining in his face and the way his hand curved against her stomach.
Al those things told her that he spoke the truth.
He leaned towards her. ‘Frank told me about Benji.’
Her jaw went slack. That meant Frank trusted Alex. Real y trusted him.
‘And that’s when I realized what you’d been trying to show me al along—that love isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. And that’s when I could final y answer that last question you asked me.’
He met her gaze—strong and steadfast. ‘I would He met her gaze—strong and steadfast. ‘I would not give up a single moment I had with Chad.’
The truth shone from every inch of his being. Hope lifted through her. She tried to keep it in check while she took in the deeper meaning of his words.
‘I don’t want to waste a single moment of the time I’m given with you and our child either. It’s too precious. I want to treasure it.’
He went down on one knee in front of her. Her hope burst free. ‘Alex! You can’t propose to me when I’m sitting on a toilet!’
His grin when it came was slow and sexy as al get out. ‘Considering I stayed in town because of that darn shower unit, I think the bathroom is the perfect place to propose to you.’
She glanced at the shower unit.
‘I’l explain it to you later,’ he promised, taking her hand. ‘What I have to say now is much more important, believe me.’
Oh, she did. When he looked at her like that she’d believe anything.
‘Kit, what happened with Jacqui and Chad, for a long time I thought that must have been my fault. I figured that if I’d been a better father and husband, they wouldn’t have left like that.’
‘Oh, Alex.’ She cupped his face with her free hand.
‘But I’ve started to realize it doesn’t prove I’m either a bad husband or a bad father. I just wasn’t the right husband for Jacqui. And, if I’m truly honest, she was never the right wife for me. It took a long time for me to realize that because I was so busy counting al the similarities between my grandfather and me. I thought his coldness and bitterness were part of my genetic make-up too. But my mother wasn’t like that.
‘There’s no reason why I have to be like him either. He had choices too. He made the wrong choices.’ His eyes didn’t drop from hers, not once. ‘I don’t have to be like him unless I choose to be. And, Kit—’ his grip tightened about her hand ‘—I’m choosing not to be.’
She stil held his face cupped in her hand and she couldn’t help herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
He kissed her back—gently, wonderingly and with the same love that had splintered her mind when he’d kissed her at the breakwater that day.
He gripped her by the shoulders and pul ed back.
‘No way! No more of that.’
Her eyes bugged.
He smiled that slow, sexy grin. ‘Until you tel me that you’l be my wife.’ His expression sobered. ‘Kit, I love you more than I ever dreamt it was possible to love another person. I wil spend every single moment of every single day making you and our children happy. I swear.’
Her breath hitched. ‘Children?’
‘I hope so,’ he murmured. ‘You do want more children, don’t you? We’d want brothers and sisters for junior here.’
Through a blur she desperately tried to blink away, she nodded. She wanted children, she wanted the life he’d described. She wanted him. ‘I love you, Alex. You, this baby, this bathroom—’ she suddenly laughed ‘—it’s al I’ve ever wanted. Yes, I wil marry you!’
With a whoop, Alex swung her up and around and kissed her til she could barely breathe. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
She didn’t know how long they stayed like that.
She only knew that it was quite some time—a wonderful, magical, I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening time. Alex rested his forehead against hers. She swore she could stare into those dark eyes of his for al of time. ‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ she whispered. This had been such a hard road for him.
If he needed more time…
‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I’m only sorry it took me so long to come to my senses.
Knowing that I hurt you—’
‘Shh.’ She reached up to brush the frown from his brow. ‘It’s the future we look towards now, not the past.’
He seized her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. ‘Kit, I don’t have much to offer you. I don’t have any family and I’ve only a few friends…’
She smiled then. ‘Alex, I don’t think there’s another bil ionaire on the planet who would ever say that they didn’t have much to offer.’ She took his hand then and pressed a kiss to his palm. ‘I have enough friends and family for us both. We’l make our own family. Alex, al I want is your heart.’