Page 127 of Manhattan Kiss

“I love Willow,” she says. “But I…”

“It must be so hard, knowing that you can’t carry your own child. I can’t begin to imagine.” I want to take her pain away, but I know it’s impossible.

She swallows down a sob. “You shouldn’t spend your life with someone who can’t have children. You shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

“Don’t you get it?” I ask. “I want you, me, and Willow to be a family. I want us to be a we. And we’ll deal with it. I want to be with you, and nothing will ever change that.”

She looks up at me like she needs more reassurance than what I’m saying is true.

“I love you,” I whisper. “I love you. I love you.”

“Really?” she asks, her eyes searching mine. “But…”

“Completely and utterly in love with you. There are no buts.”

Her body finally relaxes under my touch and she exhales like she’s utterly exhausted and completely relieved to have me holding her. I want to press my lips against hers, but I want her to finish what she’s saying.

I drop my hands from her face.

“I wasn’t sure I’d be able to survive after we broke up,” she says. “But I did survive.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. I hate myself for hurting her. I hate that I wasn’t able to see the way through to her. I was consumed by my own fear.

“I can’t do it again,” she whispers.

“Never,” I say. “If I get you back, I’ll never let you go.”

“You never lost me,” she says. “I tried my best to move on, but all I did was survive without you.” Her voice cracks at the end of her sentence and I pull her closer.

Her hands sweep up my chest, and I swallow. I don’t want to mishear her. But it’s hard to focus on anything when Aurora touches me.

“I never lost you?” I ask wanting to make completely sure that she just made me the happiest man alive.

She shakes her head. “I’ll be yours until the end of time, whether we’re together or not.”

Pure joy courses through my body at the idea that she might feel the same way about me as I do about her. I let out a guttural yell. “Oh thank god!

“Marry me?” I ask, searching her face. “Marry me.” My heart thunders in my chest and I will it to quiet so I can hear her answer.

“Maybe,” she replies, and her mouth curls up at the edges.

“Maybe?” I ask. My body tenses, ready to combat the next obstacle I need to demolish.

She shrugs. “I’m yours until the end of time. If you want to get married, we can, but you already have my heart.”

My body sags with relief and I chuckle at her teasing. “You have my heart completely and entirely. You also have a six-year-old that’s obsessed with you.”

She grins like I just put a cherry on top of the cake and joy burrows deep into my heart, alongside the old grief. God, I wish Penny were here to know Aurora and Willow.

“Maybe we should take one step at a time,” Aurora says. “Be sensible. You know?”

The last thing I want to do is take my time. We’ve wasted too much already, but whatever Aurora wants is fine with me. “I’m all the way in, Aurora. There are no steps. Not for me. If you want to go slow, then we can do that. But I don’t need to. We can get married next week as far as I’m concerned.”

“But what about Willow?” she asks, and my heart inches higher in my chest at her concern for my daughter.

“Willow will be just fine. She keeps asking when you’re moving in.”

“She does?”