Page 51 of Delivery After Dark (Gansett Island #28)

“ W hat’s this?” Sierra asked.

“I made us some dinner.”

“I was supposed to take you out.”

“We’ll do that another time.” He held a chair for her at the small table she’d bought at a yard sale. “Have a seat.”

Filled with curiosity, she took the seat he held for her and shivered when he kissed her neck.

“How was your day, dear?”

“Long and tedious.”

“How come?”

“I couldn’t wait to see you.”

“I seem to have that very same problem. No matter what I’m doing, I’m wondering where you are and how long I have to wait to see you again.” He sat across from her. “Do you know how slowly the time goes by when you’re dying to see someone?”

“As a matter of fact, I do know. It’s something I’ve only just realized in the last few weeks. Work has never been more of a chore than it’s been lately.”

“For me, too, except the time I spent working at your place when I could steal kisses in between installing new circuits.”

“Sexiest electrician I ever met.”

He tipped his head adorably. “How many electricians have you known?”

“Never mind. Take the compliment.”

Smiling, he filled their wineglasses with the rosé they both liked. “Cheers to you, Sierra Mancini. Thank you for the best weeks of my life.”

As she touched her glass to his, she feared he might be planning to tell her their time together was ending.

“Why did you frown like that?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything you want.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Only to go to Providence with you tomorrow. If I’m still invited, that is.”

“You are invited—and I just talked to my dad. He’s excited to meet you and wants to know your favorite dish from Mancini’s so he can have it ready for you.”

“That’s easy. Lasagna.”

“Got it, but what about after Providence? What happens in the New Year?”

“What do you want to happen?”

Suddenly, Sierra couldn’t take it anymore.

She couldn’t bear to sit across from him as his gorgeous face was lit by candlelight, dreaming about a future that might not happen.

She stood and went into her room to curl up on her bed, feeling madly vulnerable and undone by feelings so big, she didn’t know how to manage them. She’d never had to before.

He crawled onto the bed and curled up to her. “What’s wrong?”

She took a few minutes to try to settle her emotions before she said words that could never be unsaid. “I’m scared.”

“Of what, honey?”

“This. You. All of it.”

He pushed himself up on his arm. “Turn over so I can see your gorgeous face.”

“Don’t want to.”

“Please?”

Reluctantly, she turned onto her back and gazed up at the ceiling because looking at him was akin to staring at the sun. He blotted out everything that wasn’t him.

“Sierra.”

“Yes?”

“You’re not looking at me.”

“I know.”

“Tell me what you’re afraid of.”

“I’m losing myself to this thing with you, and I have no idea where you’ll even be a few weeks from now.”

“I’m sorry to have upset you this way.”

“I’m not upset. I’m trying to keep my wits about me so if you decide to go back to your old life, I’ll still be able to enjoy mine here.”

“After these last few weeks, I don’t think I could enjoy any life that doesn’t include you.”

At that, she finally looked directly at him. “Really?”

He caressed her face with a light slide of his fingers over her cheek.

“Really. It seems, at some point, I’m not exactly sure when…

No, wait, that’s not true. I know exactly when.

It was when you looked at me at Billy’s funeral and made me feel stronger just because you were in the room. That’s definitely when it happened.”

“When what happened?”

“I fell in love with you.”

“You… You fell… Oh.”

Smiling, he said, “That was articulate.”

“No one has ever fallen in love with me before. I’m not quite sure how to process that.”

“I’m so very honored and thankful to be the first man to fall in love with you. I’d also like to be the last one.”

She was so overwhelmed by emotion that she barely noticed when tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

But he noticed, and he kissed them away. “Am I out on this love limb all by myself?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. Why do you think I was freaking out?”

“I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you these things, but I was working to figure out my shit before I talked to you.”

“Your boss wants you back to work.”

“I resigned from that job yesterday.”

She sat up. “What? You did? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I was waiting for my new job to become official, and it did today. I’ll be working for the town of Gansett Island to upgrade the island’s power grid—in addition to providing electrical services to Mac McCarthy’s construction company. I wanted to have everything resolved before I told you.”

“I thought you didn’t want to live here full time.”

“I didn’t until I met someone who has a business and a life here that she loves. She wouldn’t be happy anywhere else, and I wouldn’t be happy without her. In the end, the decision was much easier than I expected it to be. As I thought about leaving here—and leaving you—everything in me objected.”

“Can you be happy here full time when all you wanted was out of here as a kid?”

“Will you be here with me?”

“For as long as you’ll have me.”

“Then I should be set to spend the rest of my life right here with you.”

“Is this really happening?”

“Only if it’s what you want.”

She held out her arms to him, and he made himself at home in her embrace. “I was all set to tell you that you couldn’t come to Christmas after all.”

“Ouch.”

“I know my dad will love you, and I didn’t want to get his hopes up if you weren’t planning to stick around.”

“And now?”

“I can’t wait for my two favorite guys to meet each other.”

“I can’t wait to meet him, too. How would you feel if I asked for his permission to propose to you?”

Her heart simply couldn’t contain the emotional overload. “He’ll tell you it’s up to me, but he’ll appreciate the gesture.”

“Good to know. Is there anything you want to tell me?”

At first, she didn’t know what he meant, and then she got it. Only one of them had said the actual words. “I love you, Morgan.”

The way he looked at her… She’d waited all her life for someone to look at her like that and was thankful now that she’d waited for him.

He put his hand on her face as he gazed into her eyes. “Right when I’d lost the last of my family, there you were to give me a whole new one. If you put your faith in me, Sierra, you’ll never be sorry.”

“I already know that—and likewise. We’ll make a whole new family of our own, even if it’s just the two of us.”

“That’s all I’ll ever need, but maybe we can add a few little Morgans and Sierras to the mix at some point?”

“I’d consider that.”

Everything was different when he kissed her this time, sealing their deal in a passionate embrace that was so much more now that she knew for certain he loved her, and they were going to spend their lives together.

He made her truly happy, and she would spend the rest of her life doing the same for him.