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Silas is shocked. His mouth opens, eyes widen, and no words come out. His eyes drift down to my stomach and back up again, then a hand moves to his throat.
“It’s yours,” I whisper, just to fill the silence. “I mean, obviously.” I laugh nervously, shoving my fingers through my hair. I bite my lip, then whisper, “Say something.”
The seconds tick by—or at least it feels like seconds. I’ve lost all sense of time. All I know is Silas came here to tell me he was leaving his family, leaving everything that stood between us, but we still might not be able to be together. He basically came here and laid his whole life at my feet, and I took a rocket launcher and made the whole thing explode in his face.
Surprise! A maniacal laugh tries to bubble up through me at the image, but I manage to swallow it down.
I wait.
Say something. I want to repeat it. I want to scream it. I want him to let me know, one way or the other, how that makes him feel.
He’s going to run back to the castle. I know it. He’s going to turn his back on me and walk away, leaving me to raise this baby on my own. This is why I wanted to wait. This is why I didn’t want to tell him until after the birth. This is why I told him to leave me alone.
I can’t handle the hurt of rejection.
Tears prickle at my eyes until the look on Silas’s face shifts from shock to pure, blinding happiness. In three steps he’s in front of me, sliding his hands over my cheeks, breath trembling as he inhales. I expect him to say something. To tell me what he’s feeling. Instead, he shows me by dipping his head and kissing me hard.
I inhale, not prepared for his lips. His taste. His smell. I’m not ready to feel his hands on my body, but oh, they feel right. So, so right and so, so good. I moan against his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer, never wanting to come up for air.
Fire floods my veins as I inhale his presence. My whole body unwinds, relaxes, melts into his touch. Every part of me that’s been filled with tension goes limp, and all I can do is cling onto him. Kiss him. Tug his hair with my fingers and bring him closer to me.
I thought I could resist this? I thought I could walk away?
I was a damn fool. An idiot. I could never resist his lips, his touch, his love. I could never look him in the eye and say the things I said over the phone. I could never walk away.
He’s kissing me. He wants this. He wants me. The baby. Everything.
“Jazz,” he says, panting as he pulls away. His hands are still on either side of my head, eyes lined with unshed tears. “I love you so much. I’m in love with you, head over heels. You came into my life, guns blazing, and you showed me the kind of person I can be. You make me want to be better, Jazz. You make me want to be worthy of you. You make me imagine a kind of life I thought I’d never have, and I don’t know if I can live without you. These past few weeks, I’ve felt like I can’t breathe without you. I can’t think without knowing if you feel the same way I do. I’m so hopelessly in love with you.” He blinks tears down his cheeks, sucking in a hard breath. “I’m so sorry for what happened, and I’m sorry for ruining your career. It’s my fault. I’ll never be able to make it up to you, but please, please let me love you. Let me love our child.”
There I go whimpering again as my forehead touches his. My breath is shaky and I don’t trust my voice, but my fingers curl into his sweater and I feel the warmth of his chest against mine.
He’s here. He wants me.
“I love you, too.” I meet his eyes, biting my lip, and catch the most brilliant smile I’ve ever seen.
“You do?”
“It would be a lot easier if I didn’t, but yeah. Probably ever since you showed up to a party dressed as Kermit the Frog.”
Silas laughs, touching his nose to mine. “My Miss Piggy.”
“That is not going to be my nickname.”
He laughs harder, sliding his hands around my waist as he pulls me close. “What if I want it to be?”
“You can forget it, buster.” I try to glare, but my lips tremble and slide into a smile. “Jazz will be fine, thank you very much.”
Silas closes his eyes, inhales deeply, and tightens his hold on my waist. We stand there in my kitchen, holding each other, as the seconds bleed into each other.
He loves me.
He gave up his place at the palace for me.
He wants this baby.
“Silas,” I whisper.
“Yeah?”
