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Insecurity mixed in with this headache meant that Marlowe was not the brightest tool in the shed. Or maybe Kai just wasn’t saying things straight. Either way, I was frustrated as fuck!
“Just say what you mean.”
Great, I sound like an angry fishwife.
Kai laughed. “I’m not saying this right. Marlowe, you mean the world to me.”
“But…”
“Stop it, woman! What I’m trying to say is that today scared the shit out of me, and it smacked me in the face that I was head-over-heels in love with you. My life wouldn’t be worth living if I didn’t have you in it.”
In love with you.
He kept talking, but all that kept rattling around in my head was that he was in love with me. This guy. This real guy. This wonderful man. He was in love with me. And he was real.
Aw shit, I could feel the first tear trailing down my cheek. What the hell? I didn’t cry! What was going on?
“Sweetheart, say something.”
I struggled out of his arms to go get a tissue.
“Marlowe, where are you going?”
“Tissues,” I mumbled.
“I’ll get them. You stay right here.”
He came back in just a moment with the box. How had he known where the tissues were?
Focus!
I took four out of the box and pressed them up to my face, trying to stop the fountain of tears, but it felt like a big plug had been pulled out, and my crying was never going to stop.
I found myself back in the crook of Kai’s arm. As if he were cradling me. He was stroking the hair away from my face and kissing my forehead, the curve of my jaw, and whispering silly things in my ear.
Silly, silly, things.
“I love you, Marlowe.”
“You’re precious to me.”
“I love your dog.”
“I want to build a life with you, Sweetheart.”
Silly, silly, things.
24
I woke up alone in my bed. It was my bed, I recognized my yellow sheets. I didn’t want to get up. I was scared to. I needed to think. Had yesterday really happened? I rolled over and saw a note on the pillow where I was pretty sure Kai had slept. The note was written on a paper towel. I grinned.
* * *
Marlowe –
Gone back to the hotel. I’m checking out, just like you suggested. I’ll be back with my gear after I stop off at Onyx and the Sheriff’s office.
I love you,
