“I’m here,” a husky voice proclaimed from the entrance to the family room. “I just wanted to text you like I would have done if we had gotten the chance to actually date. Isn’t that what boyfriends and a fiancé would do?”
Every nerve end in her body was tingling and Julian’s voice sent a pulse of pleasure down her spine. He looked so vulnerable, so uncertain, that Kristin wanted to leap up and throw herself into his arms. He hadn’t been his usual cocky, smartass self all day, and she kind of missed it. But the attentive lover was sort of nice, too.
She held out her hand to him. “Are you okay?”
He frowned. “I’m fine. Why do you think I’m not?” He put his bandaged hand in hers and sat down next to her. “Okay. Yeah. I’m kind of annoyed that I couldn’t get you flowers. I went upstairs to call. I wanted roses. But the flower shop was closed.”
She turned to face him and sat cross-legged like he was and lightly took his other hand. “Julian, I don’t need anything else. I have you.”
“I have you, too. But I hate the fact that you got robbed when it comes to romance. I never took you on a normal date, or did the typical things that a guy would do who is crazy about you. You deserve that and so damn much more.”
The expression of discontent in his eyes melted Kristin’s heart. “So that’s what today was about? Trying to make our non-dating time up to me?” she questioned, flabbergasted.
He shrugged. “Yes and no. I want to be with you doing those things. But yeah, I think you deserved a lot more than what you got.”
“Do you know how happy you make me? Don’t you realize that what we have means everything to me?” she questioned softly. “Maybe our relationship was unconventional, but we spent time in Hawaii and Vegas. You’ve given me something special. Why would I want normal when I have extraordinary?”
He grinned at her. “I can do a whole lot better.”
His devilish grin made her heart skip a beat. “Just the fact that you love me is perfect,” she answered with a sigh, wondering how he could think the little things mattered when she had so much now.
“I was an asshole in the past, Kristin. I blew off my mom and dad for over six damn years because I was so consumed with my career. That’s a mistake I can never take back again. I hadn’t seen them for most of my adult life because I wanted everything my way and on my terms. Xander was right, back when he told me I was being a prick. I was. And I ended up regretting it. I never want to fuck up again. I never want to not show the people who mean something to me that I care, every single day.” His eyes captured hers with an expression of remorse dancing in their depths.
“I know you care,” she assured him in a hushed voice.
“I more than care. You’re my everything,” he confessed in a low baritone that vibrated with emotion. “I knew almost immediately when we first met. I knew you were meant to be mine.”
If Kristin was honest with herself, deep down inside, she’d probably known that, too. Julian had touched a place in her heart that had never stopped aching for him. “Maybe I knew it, too. Maybe that’s why I had to do everything I could to distance myself. You and me—us—wasn’t even fathomable to me. You were Julian Sinclair. I was a small-town medical assistant and a makeshift bartender just trying to survive.”
“If I hadn’t already been committed to some projects, I would have stayed, worn down your resistance until you let me take you out,” Julian admitted. “But I had to wait. Every time I had to leave it almost killed me.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at his tormented expression, knowing he meant every word he said. “So you decided to kidnap me?”
“I was pretty damn desperate by that time. When I found out you weren’t coming to Vegas, I was determined to find a way for you to go,” he rumbled.
Kristin’s heart skittered. “You went to an awful lot of trouble.”
He shot her a heated look. “Believe me, you’re worth it.”
She sighed, still not quite feeling worthy of inspiring this much emotion in Julian. But he was slowly changing the way she felt about herself.
“Tell me about our wedding,” she asked curiously. “I keep trying to remember it, but it’s just a blank.”
“That’s another thing . . . You deserved a beautiful wedding.”
“I had a great honeymoon in Hawaii. That was much better. Tell me.”
“The ceremony was short and sweet. We picked out rings from the chapel. You told me you didn’t need a fancy ring because I was your prize, and it was just a symbol. You were wearing that sexy dress, and when you said your wedding vows, it was the happiest day of my life. I was a little too messed up to realize that things might not look all that good the next day when we were sober.” He paused before adding, “I’m sorry you didn’t get a dream wedding.”
Kristin hated seeing Julian dejected. It wasn’t his usual demeanor, and it broke her heart. “I don’t regret it. I’ve never wanted a fancy wedding. I’d rather just be married to the right guy.”