The Tempting Mrs. Reilly (13 page)

And all he could think was, he hoped he hadn't waited too long. Hoped he wasn't too late.

 

Tina looked around her office, exhaled deeply and smiled to herself. Finished. It was done and she was ready.

More than ready, she told herself, she was anxious to get started.

“Tina!”

She jolted and spun around, one hand reaching for the base of her throat. “Brian?”

“Damn it,” he shouted again, his voice carrying
from the main office with no trouble at all, “I'm here to see Tina Coretti, and I'm not leaving until I do.”

Heart pounding, brain reeling, Tina hurried through the open doorway leading from her office to the real estate business's main room. She spotted him easily. A tall, gorgeous, totally built Marine, surrounded by men who suddenly looked much smaller in comparison, was hard to miss.

He saw her instantly and his features shifted from angry frustration to desperation. “Tina, tell these yahoos who I am.”

“It's okay,” she called out and ignored the questioning looks being tossed her way. “He's my ex-husband.”

Brian pushed through the rest of the people standing between him and Tina and headed for her.

“Oh, wow,” Janet said from directly beside her and Tina was forced to agree.

Brian in uniform was something to see. His chest was broad and the medals pinned to his left breast glittered in the sunlight streaming through the bank of floor to ceiling windows. His blue eyes were focused on Tina and his jaw was locked tight.

He stopped just a foot from her and took a long deep breath before blurting, “You left without telling me.”

“What?” she asked and nearly shook her head as if to clear it.

“You heard me,” he said and his voice boomed out
around them. “I went to Angelina's to talk to you and you were gone.”

“You knew I wasn't staying,” she said and shot a quick look at the interested faces turned toward them.

“Yeah.” He shoved one hand along the side of his head then let his hand drop. “But I want you to stay.”

“Brian—“

“I came to take you home,” he said, not letting her get more than that one word out.

Tina felt the earth shift beneath her and decided she liked it. “You did?”

“I can't live without you, Tina. Not anymore. Not one more day.” He reached for her, dropping both hands onto her shoulders and squeezing, as if holding her in place should she decide to make a run for it.

But Tina wasn't going anywhere.

“You can't?” she asked, wanting to hear it all. Hear everything she'd waited five long years for.

“I thought I was doing the right thing before,” he said and at last his voice dropped until it was as if just the two of them were in the room. “When I let you go. Being a Marine wife is hard. A tough job not everyone can do.”

“I could have,” she said, needing him to know that he'd made a mistake.

“I know that now,” he agreed. “You're plenty tough enough,” he added, then lifted one hand to
stroke her cheek. “Tougher than me, because you were able to leave and I couldn't let you.”

Tears rushed up from her heart, filled her throat and blurred her eyes. “Not so tough,” she said, catching his hand with hers and holding on. “It killed me to leave.”

“Then come home,” he said, softer now, more intimately. “Come home with me, Tina. Love me. Let me love you. I've always loved you, Tina. Always will love you.”

“Brian…”

He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her until all Tina could feel was him. His heart pounded and she felt the thud of it echo inside her.

“Make babies with me, Tina,” he whispered, his breath a hush on her ear. “Make lots of babies with me.”

Joy rippled through her, one wave after another, like circles on the surface of a lake after a pebble had been tossed in. She held on to him, holding him as tightly as she could and whispered for him alone. “I love you, Brian Reilly. Always have. Always will. I was always proud to be a Marine wife. And even prouder to be
your
wife.”

Relief crashed through him like storm surf and left his legs shaky. Brian had never felt better in his life. Pulling her back so that he could look into her beautiful, teary eyes, he said, “So then. How fast do you think we can move you back to South Carolina?”

“Does tomorrow work for you?”

Stunned, Brian just stared at her. “Huh?”

Laughing, Tina grabbed his hand and ignoring everyone else, dragged him down the short hall to her office and closed the door behind them. Then she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and grinning up into his face.

“I sold my half of the business to my partner,” she said. “Movers are coming tomorrow to pack up my stuff.”

“You—but—how—” He sounded like an idiot and he was so damn happy, he didn't care.

Shaking her head, Tina leaned in and planted a long, deep kiss on him before pulling back again. “I decided two days ago that I couldn't stay here—that I couldn't live without you.”

His arms tightened around her and his heart gave a lurch that jolted him.

“I was going home to you, you big dummy,” Tina said, smiling. “To make you love me. To make you see that we belong together.”

“Baby,” he said, pausing for another soul-searing kiss, “I'm convinced.”

And when they finally came up for air again, Brian gave her a tight squeeze and warned, “You realize you're marrying a man who's going to have to be seen in a hula skirt and a coconut bra.”

“I'll bring a camera,” she said on a teary laugh.

“And I'll even pose for you,” Brian told her, “because I've never been happier about losing a bet.”