Page 117 of Revealing Mark

“You’re not going to make this easy.” He studied me thoughtfully.

I remained tight-lipped, refusing to acknowledge his perceptiveness.

“I want you.” His intense eyes held mine. “In my bed, in my life. You are the person I want to let in.”

I swallowed, unsure of where he was headed with any of this. “What if we are too messed up for this to work?” I murmured, gripping my towel like a lifeline. So far we hadn’t been off to a great start.

“There are no guarantees.”

My throat burned but I was still too scared to believe him.

“I love you,” he admitted, his eyes glittering with emotion. “You make me want things I thought weren’t for me.”

“Like what?”

“The responsibility of another’s happiness.”

A tear stole down my face while I took in his words. Oh, my God, it felt like all my dreams were coming true and I was overwhelmed. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“I promise to never stop trying to be the person worthy of you.”

“You are,” I whispered, unable to move. “You always have been.”

“I think I may have had feelings for you before I even realized it,” he admitted sheepishly. “Worrying about you I also putdown to your forgetfulness, but it has always been more than that.”

It was incredible. How long had we both skirted around it before it had become too strong to deny?

“I don’t worry about Sophie like I worry about you.” He took another step to close the distance between us. “You’re the younger sister of my best friend, so I had an excuse to care and watch over you.”

I was still speechless. How many hours, days, years had I spent adoring him when he had been wrestling with the same?

“When you started bringing boyfriends home, it became a little more difficult to keep fooling myself.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” I murmured. I thought of Jack and the rest of the boyfriends who hadn’t even come close to meaning as much as he did.

We had wasted so many years.

“Back then I was too messed up.”

“And now?” I ventured.

“I’m a little less messed up.”

God, I wanted to take the risk again but I was scared. The pain was still fresh in my chest. Just half an hour ago I had been in the clutches of the worst pain I had ever experienced.

“What if this happens again? I don’t think I can take it,” I whispered. My heart was still raw. “We haven’t even figured our way through the first hurdle yet.”

“You wanna thrash that out now?” He cocked his head to the side.

I nodded. I had to feel more secure and I believed if we could find our way through it, I would feel more confident.

“I’ve been offered a position I can’t refuse.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“My grandfather made a request before he died. He asked me to take over his companies.”

My mouth fell open. I couldn’t imagine him doing anythingbut being a bodyguard although I knew he would succeed at anything he attempted. He just had that savviness about him.