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‘And what did you work out?’
‘That he needed to be shaken up the same way you shook me up.’
Her lovely mouth dropped open.
‘I talked to his doctor first. I had no intention of barging in like a bull in a china shop like I did the last time. The doctor and I came up with a plan to bring him to the beach house, and then we got Diana Devlin on-side.’
‘I bet that wasn’t easy.’
He and Diana might never be the best of friends, but they’d come to an understanding.
‘Once the doctor told her he thought it’d be for the best she was behind the plan a hundred per cent.’
Jo leaned towards him. ‘How did you convince Ethan to go with you?’
‘I used emotional blackmail. Just like you had on me. By the way, Russ sends his love. I’m staying with him tonight.’
‘You’ve seen Russ?’
‘I’ve seen quite a bit of Russ.’
‘He’s not mentioned it to me.’
Because Mac had asked him not to. He hadn’t wanted to get her hopes up. He hadn’t known how long things with Ethan would take.
She sagged, one hand pressed to her chest. ‘I’m so glad.’
‘I am too,’ he said quietly. ‘There are some mistakes I’m never going to make again. But back to Ethan. I told him his mother needed a holiday, but that she refused to go without him. I told him she’d fall ill if she wasn’t careful.’
Her mouth hooked up. ‘Nice work.’
His chest puffed out.
‘And he’s improving?’
‘It’s taken a while, but, yes. The sea air and the fact he can see how good the break has been for his mother have both worked wonders. It’s the puppies, though, that have really been working magic.’
She leant back, her eyes wide. ‘Wow, that’s really something.’
It was. ‘Every now and again he starts to talk about the future. We even had an argument last week about what recipes I should put in my next cookbook.’
Her urgings to keep trying, not to give up, to try harder, had made a man of him. Regardless of what happened from here, he was glad—and grateful—to have known her.
‘He doesn’t blame me for the accident, Jo. He’s learning not to blame himself either.’
She set her now empty plate on the ground and rose to stand in front of him. ‘That’s wonderful news.’
His heart started to race. Hard.
‘He still has a way to go. There’ll be more skin grafts down the track. But eventually he’ll be able to return to work. When he’s ready I mean to help him any way I can.’
She moved another inch closer. Mac swallowed, his hands clenching at his sides.
‘I don’t know—’ His voice cracked. ‘I don’t know if you can live with that. You might see it as me putting him first.’
She shook her head. ‘I see it as you being a good friend—a true friend. I certainly don’t see it as a sacrifice or self-immolation or a sign of guilt.’
He stared at her. ‘That’s good, right?’
‘That’s very good.’
He couldn’t drag his gaze from the smoky depths of her eyes. Was she saying what he thought she was saying?
He seized her face in his hands, unable to resist the need to touch her. ‘What are you saying, Jo?’
No, wait!
‘No, wait,’ he said. ‘Let me tell you what I’m saying. I’m saying I love you, my beautiful girl.’ He brushed her hair back from her face. ‘I’m saying I want a life with you. I’m saying that fighting for you—by fighting to work out the right thing to do where Ethan was concerned—has made a man of me. I’m saying that if you give me a chance I will prove to you every single day that you are my first, foremost and most cherished priority.’
His hands moved back to cup her face.
‘You are my number one, Jo. Please say you’ll let me prove it.’
She pressed a hand to his lips. Her face came in close to his, her eyes shining and her lips trembling. ‘I love you, Mac,’ she whispered.
He wanted to punch the air. He wanted to whirl her around in his arms. He wanted to kiss her.
‘No man has ever made me believe in myself the way you have. No man has made me feel so desired or so beautiful or so right.’ She swallowed. ‘Yes, please. I really want the chance to build a life with you.’
He stared down into her face as every dream he’d been too afraid to dream lay before him in a smorgasbord of promise.
Jo’s eyes started to dance. She leaned in so close her words played across his lips. ‘This is the part where you kiss me.’
He didn’t wait another second, but swooped down to seize her lips in a kiss that spoke of all he couldn’t put into words. He kissed her with his every pent-up hope and fear, with the joy and frustration that had shaken through him these last months since he’d met her. And she kissed him back with such ardent eagerness and generosity it eased the burn in his soul.
