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“I wish I could’ve told you, warned you, but I couldn’t.”
All the muscles in her body tensed as she wriggled out of my arms. She wiped her tears with her left hand that was no longer covered by a cast, and stood.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“I already know.”
She studied me, and I held my hand out to her. “Come back. My arms ache not holding you.”
“You’re not angry?”
“When did it stop being a job for you, Ali?”
She smiled, her cheeks turned pink, and she finally took my hand and let me pull her back on my lap. I grasped the back of her neck and kissed her. It felt unbelievably good when she wrapped both arms around my neck.
“Well?” I asked, pulling back and looking into her eyes.
“I think it was the baklava that did it.”
I raised a brow, remembering her swatting the back of my hand with a fork.
“Or maybe it was when I woke up after the accident and you were sitting beside me.”
“You almost died because of me,” I murmured, closing my mind to the memory of when I first saw my car and realized how close she’d come.
“I didn’t, though. Neither did you,” she said, cupping my cheek like I’d done so many times to her. “I love you.”
“Say it again.”
“I love you, Sumner Copeland.”
“I love you too, Ali Graham Mancuso.”
25
ALI
ONE MONTH LATER
“You’re sure about this?” Cope asked as we walked toward the two exercise bikes that sat near the floor-to-ceiling windows of his loft.
“I did it yesterday with the drapes closed. Today I’ll try with them open.”
“Keep your eyes on the floor,” he murmured, holding my hand until I was on the seat of the bike. He’d turned it on earlier and had it set up so I could see him in a window on the screen once he was on the one beside me.
The workout he’d programmed started slow, but as competitive as we both were, I knew that soon we’d enter race mode.
“Look up, baby,” he said.
“I will.”
“I know you can do it.”
I slowly raised my head and looked in front of me. All I could see was the building across the street. “So far so good,” I told him.
“Now look at me.”
I turned my head, but stopped when I saw the view of the Capitol Building. “It really is breathtaking,” I murmured.