“Have you forgotten about the fraud charges?”
“It was my credit account you used. I’ll tell the investigators you had permission to buy whatever you wanted.”
“But I’m only trained to do one thing,” she said. “There weren’t enough mechanic jobs when I left, and nothing’s changed since then.”
“I’ll make sure Spaulding hires you. We always need mechanics. Or if you want, I’ll teach you another career, maybe product development. Then we can travel together like we do now.”
“And how would that look?” She glanced at her tattooed knuckles and imagined what the gossip magazines would say: SPAULDING HEIR SLUMMING IT WITH LATEST FLING. “A convicted felon working side by side with the future company president?” She shook her head. “Are you even listening to yourself?”
“I’ll hire a flesh forger to erase your record.”
“But I still won’t fit in. I’m not cultured or beautiful like your—”
“Stop saying that,” he interrupted. “You are beautiful.”
“You stop saying that,” she fired back. “Because I know you don’t mean it!”
His blue eyes flashed and he took a step closer, erasing the distance between them.
“Don’t tell me what I mean,” he said, his voice rough. “When I walk into a room, you’re the only person I see. My brain doesn’t get a choice anymore, because there’s something inside you so rare it radiates out and blocks everyone else. You have the kind of beauty that can’t be manufactured—the kind that comes from in here.” He tapped a finger against her chest. “I didn’t know what real beauty was before I met you, but I get it now. So trust me when I say you’re the most breathtaking girl in my world.”
Solara’s eyes burned with tears. She tried blinking Doran into focus, but something hot and painful welled inside her until his face became a wet blur.
“I like waking up in sheets that smell like you,” he said, gentler this time. “And I like the little wrinkle that shows up between your eyes every time you look at me. When I think about giving that up, I can’t breathe.” He took her face between his warm, callused hands. “Today, when I imagined what it would feel like to leave you behind, I realized that I can’t do it. And don’t think I’m being noble.”
“Doran,” she whispered with a weak smile, “I would never accuse you of being noble.”
“Then you know me.” Smiling in return, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “My reason is totally selfish—I need you. Wherever you are is where I want to be.”
Solara shook her head as tears leaked down her cheeks. She wanted to believe him, but deep down she worried that he’d only grown attached to her out of isolation. Once he had other options, he might feel differently.
“You think that way now,” she said, pulling away. “But that doesn’t mean it’s real. We’ve been through a lot together. It’s normal to have feelings for someone when you’re alone like this.”
“So you think I fell in love with you by default?”
She nodded.
“You know,” he said with a twinkle of amusement in his gaze, “I’ve never told a girl I loved her before. This is kind of a big deal for me, and you’re ruining the moment.”
That forced an undignified snort of laughter out of her. She used a sleeve to wipe both eyes and repeated what Doran had said weeks ago. “Not surprising. I’m an asshole like that.”
He moved in close, capturing her face again. “Then we’re a perfect match, aren’t we?”
Before she could even draw a breath to answer him, Doran brushed her lips in a kiss that wiped her mind clean of everything but the electric thrill of his mouth on hers. At the barest contact, her insides did backflips, and when she rose onto tiptoe for more pressure, her blood simmered to a boil. Right then, she decided that their kiss behind the barn on Cargill didn’t count. Because it hadn’t made her feel anything like this—as if her skin were alive with energy and about to burst into fireworks.
This was their first kiss.
And if she thought that was mind-blowing, it was nothing compared to the moment their tongues met. Her nerve endings ignited, and what little control she had snapped in half. She wrapped both arms around his neck as his hand slipped under her shirt, and the next thing she knew, they were stumbling toward the bed and landing on their sides in a tangled heap.
While Doran caught his breath, he watched her beneath heavy lids, his gaze flickering like a blue flame. She saw the raw emotion on his face and felt it in the desperate press of his fingers. It was then that she finally believed him. Doran had given his heart to her. At the realization, something in her own heart shifted and grew, spreading outward until there wasn’t room for anything else inside her chest.
“My answer is yes,” she whispered.