He tickled her side. “Oh, you do, do you? You like knowing that I almost went out of my mind?”
“No one has ever freaked out for me before.”
Trust her with your feelings.
If he was going to tell her, now was the time.
He stroked her cheek. “That’s because no one has ever loved you the way I do.”
She gaped at him, tears coming into her eyes. “Y-you mean that?”
Now that the words were out, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. “God, yes, I mean it. I’m crazy in love with you, Vicki.”
Her lips curved in a trembling smile, one tear sliding down her cheek. Then a look of worry pushed her smile aside. “How many times have you told me this?”
He laughed. “Just this once.”
“Good.” Relief brought her smile back. “That’s definitely something I would want to remember, because I love you, too.”
Then she kissed him.
Chapter 21
The next fewdays felt like a dream to Victoria. It was like being wrapped in a blanket of happiness. Life was so easy with Eric. She went to sleep each night in his arms and woke up beside him each morning, feeling a kind of contentment she’d never known. It wasn’t just the sex, though sex with him was freaking amazing. Eric was there for her the way no man ever had been.
“This is the closest I’ve come to paradise,” she told him one evening as she snuggled with him in one of his Adirondack chairs on the deck, watching the sunset.
“Me, too.” He kissed her hair, held her closer.
They made a trip to Food Mart each afternoon to buy ingredients for suppers that she made. It was wonderful to have so much time to play in the kitchen, and she was thrilled to see how much he enjoyed her cooking.
“If I keep eating like this, I’m going to become the fat firefighter,” he said after finishing off a meal of pot roast, garlic mashed potatoes, and arugula salad. “Will you still love me when my gut is hanging over my bunker pants?”
She still had bad headaches. She couldn’t spend more than fifteen minutes on her laptop, the light from the screen triggering dizziness and pain. When the headaches got to be too much, she rested. But even then she felt cherished. Eric came to check on her, brought her water and pain pills, sat beside her, rubbed her back.
They went on short walks when she felt up to it. He told her the names of the flowers and trees and shared stories of growing up in the mountains. She got to know the property around his cabin pretty well and saw the landlord’s house. A big two-story home with multiple decks and lots of floor-to-ceiling windows, it sat higher up the mountain in a meadow. It reminded Vic of the house at the Cimarron, though it was much smaller.
“The house, the property, the cabin—it’s all up for sale,” Eric told her. “I’m not sure the new property owner will want to rent out the cabin. Next time you come to Scarlet, I might be living somewhere else.”
“Oh, I hope not. I love this place.”
Eric left her alone only twice—once Sunday evening when he’d been toned out with the Team to rescue a hiker with a broken leg and once Tuesday afternoon when he’d responded to a planned burn on private property that had gotten out of control thanks to unexpected wind.
“This is what it’s like, you know—getting called out all the time, never being certain when I’ll be home, not being able to plan.”
She remembered what his mother had shared with her—that Eric was afraid no woman would want to put up with his schedule. She wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him. “That’s your job, and I love you for it.”
“Are you certain?” Doubt put a crease between his brows.
“Yes.” She kissed him.
* * *
Vic awokeearly Thursday to a soft kiss.
Eric stood beside the bed, wearing jeans and a yellow Team T-shirt. “The Team got toned out for a rescue. It sounds pretty technical. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She caught his hand. “Be careful.”