Bachelor Dad on Her Doorstep (18 page)

He threw his head back, his eyes blazed. ‘Are you ashamed of your feelings or something?’

‘No, I’m not ashamed that I love you, Connor.’ She said the words, loud and proud. ‘It’s just that guys aren’t as gushy-gushy as girls and I thought you might like to have this conversation in private, that’s all.’

He just stared at her. He didn’t move. He didn’t say anything. He had to have heard her. She’d said it three times!

‘It’s customary for the boy to kiss the girl at this point,’ Mrs Lavender pointed out. ‘And if that is your intention, Connor Reed, then I definitely suggest you find yourself some privacy.’

Her words acted on him like magic. He grabbed Jaz’s hand,
pulled her through the stockroom, out through the kitchenette and all the way outside. He dropped her hand again and swung around to stare at her.

‘You’re not kissing me yet,’ Jaz couldn’t help but point out.

‘Not yet.’ He pointed a finger at her. It shook. ‘You say that you love me.’

‘Yes.’

‘Why the change of heart?’

‘It’s not really a change of heart. I’ve always loved you.’ The way she sensed he’d always loved her.

‘What made you change your mind about taking the risk?’

‘Frieda.’ She said her mother’s name simply. ‘I couldn’t finish her portrait because I was blocked. I was blocked because you were right. I wasn’t living my life the way she’d have wanted. When I looked at the finished portrait I finally realised what she’d want me to do.’

He frowned. ‘To tell me you love me?’

‘To be happy,’ she corrected softly. ‘And being with you is what makes me the happiest.’

His eyes darkened with intent then. Her pulse leapt. He moved towards her…

It started to rain.

‘I don’t believe this,’ Jaz murmured under her breath. ‘Not now!’

She glanced from the sky with its lowering clouds to Connor. ‘We could…er…always go up to my flat.’

The gold highlights in his eyes glittered. He reached out and captured her chin in his strong callused fingers. ‘If you invite me up there, Jaz, I won’t be leaving any time soon.’

A thrill shot through her. The rain continued to fall around them. ‘Where’s Melly?’ she managed.

‘With my parents. My father is going to drop her off at Yvonne’s party tonight.’

Jaz stared up at the rain again, then back at Connor. ‘So you don’t have anywhere you need to be tonight?’

‘No.’

‘Then…’

‘Then…?’ he mimicked.

Jaz groaned. ‘Kiss me, Connor.’

He did.

When he lifted his head, long moments later, she could hardly breathe let alone stand. ‘Come on.’ When the strength returned to her limbs, she grabbed his hand and headed up the stairs and to her flat.

Connor took the keys from her fingers and turned her to face him, heedless of the rain. ‘I’m not prepared to lose you a second time, Jaz. I want you to know that this—’he nodded at the door ‘—is for keeps. I need to know that you feel the same way.’

Her heart expanded until she thought it might burst. ‘For keeps,’ she whispered. She’d never been surer of anything in her life. It made a mockery of all her previous doubts.

‘For ever?’ he demanded.

‘And ever,’ she agreed.

He rested his forehead against hers. ‘I love you with all that’s in me, Jaz Harper. Promise me you will never run away again. I don’t think I could bear it.’

His eyes darkened with remembered pain. She reached up and brushed his hair from his forehead. ‘I promise.’ Then she kissed him with all the love in her heart.

They were both breathing hard when she drew back.

‘In return,’ he rasped, holding her gaze, ‘I swear to you that I will always listen to you. I won’t jump to stupid conclusions.’

‘I know,’ she said. But it suddenly occurred to her that, even if he did, they were both stronger now. Together, they could overcome anything.

She didn’t know why, but she found herself suddenly laughing in his arms, so glad to be near him and loving him, revelling in the freedom of it.

‘What do you young people think you’re doing up there?’ Mrs Lavender called from below, her voice tart with outrage.
‘Don’t you know it’s raining? Get inside with you before you catch your deaths!’

‘Better do what the lady says,’ Connor said with a lazy grin, unlocking the door.

Jaz’s heart leapt. ‘Absolutely,’ she agreed, the breath catching in her throat.

He held his hand out to her. She placed hers in it. Together they stepped over the threshold.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-3804-0

BACHELOR DAD ON HER DOORSTEP

First North American Publication 2009.

Copyright © 2009 by Michelle Douglas.

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