Page 193 of Power Play

“I know.”

“I swear to you, I didn’t know.”

“I know that too.” Her tears came faster, but I shook my head. “That’s why I’m telling you now, so you understand what you’re choosing.”

“Ryan.”

“You asked for me.”

“I did.”

“You’re getting all of it.”

“I want all of it.”

My throat tightened. “You say that now.”

Her expression changed as she caught my face more firmly. “Don’t do that to me.”

I stared at her.

“Don’t decide I’m going to leave before I get the chance to stay.”

Fuck. She had found the ugliest defense I had and put her hand directly around it.

Charm stepped closer. “There is nothing you could tell me that could turn me away from you.”

I searched her face and knew she meant it. Her certainty scared me worse than doubt would have.

“I have ugly in me, mi hada.”

“So do I.”

“You don’t know all of mine.”

“Then show me.” Her voice shook, but her hands remained steady against my face. “Show me and let me decide.”

I swallowed while Charm rested her forehead against mine.

“You told me in Chicago that you needed me to choose you when people were looking.”

“I did.”

“I’m here.” Her hand moved between us and pressed over my heart. “I sat on your steps because I wanted the first thing you saw when you came home to be me choosing you. I learned those words because I wanted you to hear me choose you in the language that feels like home.”

Whatever I had left holding me upright cracked clean through, and I kissed her.

Charm gasped against my mouth as I pulled her into me, one hand burying in her hair while the other locked around her waist. The kiss wasn’t gentle. Six days of fear, missing her, wanting her, and trying to convince myself she couldn’t possibly matter more than the life I had already built came out through my mouth.

Charm kissed me back just as hard, her fingers sliding into my hair as I walked her backward until her hips met the island. My mouth moved from hers to her jaw before returning to her lips because I couldn’t decide where I wanted her more. I wanted my mouth and hands everywhere she would let me put them.

Her breath broke when my hands tightened around her waist. “Ryan.”

I eased back just enough to see her face. Her lips were swollen, her eyes bright and hazy, and every breath lifted her chest faster than the last while my hands remained locked around her waist. The sight of her like that nearly wrecked what little control I had left.

“I meant what I said outside.”

Her lips parted. “About what?”