“What?”
She, then, turned to face him, leveling her gaze against him, staring him dead in the eye.
“Is this all a joke to you? Did you come back to me only to leave again? You tied your loose end and now you’re free to move on, is that what this is?” Her voice broke at the end of her question.
Enough. Nate had let this go on long enough.
He released Maddy’s hand but not before he’d tugged her closer, his hands lifting to tangle in her hair and cradle her face.
“Is that what you think about me?”
She looked at him for a few endless seconds before shaking her head in resignation.
Nate felt a small spark of hope in his chest.
“Good. Now I want you to listen to me very carefully. Can you do that for me?” he asked, his eyes never wavering from hers.
Maddy hesitated for a bit but nodded.
“It’s true that I had requested to be considered for a higher position that would mean my transfer to our central offices. But this was all before the day of the accident, the day that changed everything.” He needed to make her understand. “The day I remembered everything, I declined the position. I have no idea how there are different news circulating the office but I’m telling you the truth.” He couldn’t help the pleading tone in his voice. “Please, tell me you believe me, Mads. The only way I’m leaving you is if you kick me out of your life yourself.”
Maddy made a hiccupping sound like choked-up laughter, and Nate felt like he could go limp with relief. It was all he could do to lower himself enough to pick her up by her thighs and use her momentary surprise to scoop her up and carry her towards the couch, where he sat, with her on his lap and in his arms.
“Where would I even go, Mads? We have vampire books to read, and depressing music to listen to, and a lot of chocolate to drink,” he said, brushing her face softly. “You’re my point of reference. Wherever you go, I follow.” That was all he could tell her without scaring her for now. Because there was nothing easy or simple about the way he felt for her. It was something debilitating in its intensity, hard and unyielding. But eventually he would show her that he meant everything he said.
“I’m so sorry, Nate. I feel so stupid for overreacting,” she muttered in a small voice.
“You didn’t. Anyone would have thought what you did and they would have been right to do so.” He tipped up her jaw to meet her eyes once again. “I’m crazy about you, Mads. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
The grin she aimed his way felt like warm sunshine.
“Well, that’s good to hear, Nate, because I hate to break it to you but you’re stuck with me, too,” she said before adding in a softer tone that made his body hard and his heart liquid, “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
He sucked in a breath.
“Take the week off.”
She laughed so hard, her eyes were squinting.
“What the hell is your problem with my job?”
“My problem with your job is that it interferes with my plan of keeping you here.”
“You’re right. Might as well make the most out of it.”
He gave her no warning before he hoisted her over his shoulder. She yelped in surprise but was still laughing as she pounded his back.
“What about breakfast?”
“Don’t worry. It will still be there later.”
Much, much later, if he had anything to say about it.
epilogue
6 months later
Madison Pierce thought something felt extremely right as she slowly woke up.
