“Carson’s,” Draco interrupted her sitting back down on the bed beside her. “I will rebuild it for you. I promise you Blair. If that’s what it takes, I will do it for you.”
Blair reached out and pressed her fingers to his lips. “No. That’s not what I want. Sure, I thought Carson’s was my be-all and end-all. What else did I have to dream and strive for in my life? No, I’ve learned that Carson’s was my father’s dream and his alone. I absorbed his hopes and dreams as my own when I had nothing else, exactly as he did when my mother left him. It was easier to pour all those feelings into work than into setting himself up for failure again with other relationships, and believe me—he failed often.
“I think seeing that example in my life showed me that you can have control of something in your life. What you do, if not what you feel. By default, his dreams became my own. But you know, deep down inside, I always wanted what he never had—a partner to stand by me, through anything and everything. Someone to love me and be loved by me in return. But it was so much easier not to take the risk. Loving hurts. It leaves you open and vulnerable and requires the utmost trust to commit to.”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.
“I don’t want to be like my father and drive myself so hard for something that it eventually destroys my life, and I don’t care if you don’t rebuild Carson’s. It doesn’t matter to me, not anymore.”
“What does matter to you?” Draco asked, as he tilted her chin so she looked him straight in the eye.
“You. You and our baby and the life we can have together, if you’ll have me. Draco, I love you. I’ve fought it tooth and nail, but I can’t deny it any longer.”
“Cara mia, never doubt it. I love you more than I ever believed a man could love a woman. I don’t ever want to lose you. You and only you are the love of my life—my reason for being—and, if you’ll let me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Growing old with you. Loving you.”
Blair wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck and drew him closer to her. “Then start now,” she said softly against his lips. “Show me.”
Draco pushed aside the covers of the bed and gently coaxed her against the pillows. His fingers skimmed her arms, her legs, before gently lifting the hem of the T-shirt up and over, until she was exposed before him—naked, but for the cloak of love that swathed around them both.
Her body thrummed with desire, but this time it felt different, as if they were finally in perfect tune with one another. And when he removed his clothing and settled his body over hers she knew what made that difference. It was the absolute security of knowing she was safe with him, that she had offered him her heart and that she knew at a level that went soul-deep, that he would cherish and protect that gift for all of his days.
And as their bodies slowly began to move in unison, Blair knew that she would do the same for him.
Forever.