79. Darcy

CHAPTER 79

DARCY

"I love you," I tell Hayden under the cherry blossom trees while the April sun shines down on us, glinting in his hair and making his eyes look more blue than the ocean. "I should have said it last night, but I froze up because I was scared. I didn't trust myself. I was scared I'd hurt you or I'd disappear into your life."

He watches with a small smile, listening patiently, and I rest my hand on his firm chest. Beneath my palm, his heart beats steadily. A breeze lifts a lock of hair that's fallen onto his forehead, and more cherry blossoms flutter from the trees.

Love blooms all around us, and I see it so clearly now.

How could I ever think I'd lose myself in this man? Wrong again, Darcy. He'd never let me. He tried to give up everything so I could keep a job I love.

"You would never let that happen," I tell him. "With you, I'm the best version of myself."

I look over my shoulder at a nearby bench, the one we sat on a couple of weeks ago. "I sat under the cherry blossoms, watching you play hockey with those kids, and realized my life was undeniably better with you in it." My breath catches with emotion as I gaze up at him .

With every fiber of my being, I hope he feels the same way.

Longing and pure affection flare in his eyes. "I love you , Darce. I always have. I love you more than I thought possible. You make me feel like the person I want to be." He laughs to himself. "That's why A.R. Haddington sent me the book, I think. I told her the story of us, how we bonded over her books, but I told her that I love you and that I've loved you for a long time. We know she's a romantic."

Hayden wraps his arms around me, pulling me against him, and I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. His lips find my temple and he gives me a kiss.

"Always?" My pulse skips a beat as I lean back to look up at him, so tall and gorgeous. The man of my dreams who was right in front of me the entire time.

"Always. I never loved you like a friend, Darcy. It just took me a while to figure that out."

"Me, too," I whisper.

His hands wind into the back of my hair and he tips my face back, catching my lips with his. The kiss is soft, sweet, and gentle, but he tugs my bottom lip between his teeth and drags a finger down the back of my neck, making me shiver at the promise of more once we get home.

My head spins as he leans back to wink at me. "Come on."

As we walk home beneath the cherry blossom trees, I look up at him with a question in my eyes. "I told you the moment I fell in love with you. What about you?"

His mouth tilts into a roguish grin. "Remember that night I got hurt?"

"The big hit?"

He nods.

"Wait." I laugh. "You fell in love with me because of a blow job?"

Hayden shakes with laughter. "I've loved you always, but that's when it hit me." He takes a deep breath, still smiling down at me, joy radiating from the depths of his eyes, from his skin, from the air around him. "No one's ever taken care of me like that, Darcy. If I wasn't in love with you then, that would have sealed the deal."

My heart aches with the sweetness in his words. "Hayden?"

"Yes, Darcy?"

"Let's go home." I wiggle my eyebrows in a mischievous way that leaves no question about what I'm going to do for him.

His eyes light up, and he reaches down before tossing me over his shoulder, and I yelp in surprise, laughing as he starts jogging down the street.