“A patient is asking for you.”Those words were music to his ears.
With each step toward her room, the tension knot tightened in his chest.By the time he made it across the hall and four doors down, he’d worked himself up into believing she wanted to thank him before saying goodbye.
Time to lay his cards on the table.
He knocked on the door before stepping inside.
“Hudson?”came the voice he’d grown to love.
“I’m here,” he said as he made a beeline for the bed.He took a knee beside her and searched her face for any signs she might welcome what he was about to say.
“Nikki?”was her first question.
“Her and the baby are fine.She escaped through a window while someone named Enzo watched her.She was pretty sure he left it open on purpose.Anyway, she showed up a few hours after you left.Turns out, the keys were in a vehicle parked two doors down from the house where she was being held hostage.”
Cassie exhaled a slow breath.Then, locked gazes with him.Her smile gave him the courage to keep going.But first…
“Before I go any further, you need to know something,” he said.
She sat up a little straighter, like she was preparing for the worst.
“We found your son in Oklahoma.”
“Wait.What?”
“He lives on a small ranch, and by all accounts is living a happy life with loving parents.”
“That’s amazing.”The look of relief on her face caused his heart to swell.“He’s okay.”A few tears pooled in her eyes, and then fell, splashing her cheekbones.
He thumbed the wet streaks away.
“He’s doing great.And he hopes to meet you someday.His parents told him everything on his twelfth birthday earlier this year.Said he was old enough to handle the truth.He wrote an email to you.”
More tears streaked her cheeks.He thumbed those away, too.
“If this is too much—”
“They’re happy tears, Hudson.Very happy tears.”
“Everything is in the file that I had my private detective put together.The information has been verified.Just tell me where you want it sent and you’ll know everything I do.”
She reached over and touched his arm.The familiar jolt of electricity no longer surprised him.He welcomed the heat.
“I don’t know what to say.”She caught his gaze.Those glittery emeralds saw right through him.“But I’ll start with thank you.”
“There’s something else I need to say.”
“Go ahead.”She sucked in a breath like she was about to be hit with the bad news.
The right words didn’t come to him, so he just started talking.“I’ve experienced real loss in my lifetime, and I thought it took everything from me.Most of all, I thought it took away my ability to feel anything for anyone else.”He paused for a beat, gathering more courage.“And then I met you.”He smiled.Couldn’t help it.“And you turned my world upside down.You turned me inside out.You’re smart and beautiful and kind.And you have no reason to trust anything anyone ever tells you, except that I hope you’ll trust me when I tell you this.
“In these past couple of days, I’ve learned that I can fall in love again.Better.More mature.And very real.What I feel for you runs deeper than anything I’ve ever known.You carved out a permanent place in my heart, and I’d like you to carve out a similar place in my home.I haven’tfallenin love with you.I’vecrashedinto love with you because that’s what it took to break down all those walls I had built up.Walls that kept me from loving anyone until you.”He reached for her hand and linked their fingers.“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way.You can thank me and move on with your life.But I had to tell you how I feel, or I would always wonder if you maybe felt a little bit the same way.I love you, Cassie.And I hope you’ll let me love you for the rest of my life.”
He’d said his piece.Now, it was her turn.The knot tightened to the point of barely being able to breathe as he waited for her response.
“I don’t feel a little bit the same way, Hudson.”She looked right at him, and his heart stuttered.“I’ve crashed all the way in love with you.My whole life, I’ve moved from place to place, never staying long enough to call any place home.”It was her turn to pause.“I think I fell in love with you the first time I looked in your eyes—reallylooked in your eyes—and saw something I’d never experienced before.A place that felt like home.So, I’ll move into your house because you’ve moved into my heart.And I intend to hold onto you for the rest of my life.Because you’re my home, Hudson.I’m madly, deeply in love with everything that you are.”
Moisture had formed in Hudson’s eyes by the time Cassie finished.He leaned over and pressed a tender kiss to her lips.