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Authors: Anna Howard

Shatter Me (20 page)

BOOK: Shatter Me
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My heart starts pounding. Why would the ring be in his pocket instead of secure in the safe?

             
“I had made reservations at
La Tessa
.” He is playing with my fingers now, not looking at me. “The night you cancelled.”

             
La Tessa
was the first place we had ever had dinner together as a couple. I don’t know what to think about that or where he is going with his explanation about the ring so I sit there, heart pounding so hard in my chest that my
i
t is shaking, and give him the time he needs to tell me.

             
“You see there was something wrong about what you said a little while ago. You said that you knew I wasn’t ready…But I was. I was so ready. But then you cancelled and I thought okay, I will find another way to ask her.
Something just as romantic.
And I was just deciding that the Christmas Gala would be perfect when Bianca stormed her way into my office…”

             
My heart stops. It completely stops beating and I find that I have stopped breathing. But I have to know.
“What…What where you
going to ask me?”
I whisper so quietly
I wonder if he even hears me.

             
He sits there for the longest time, just continuing to play with my fingers. Minutes pass, maybe hours or even days. I have no idea
because
all I am focused on is this man and what is going to come out of that sinful mouth of his. Finally he blows out a long drawn out breath and raises his eyes to meet mine in the dim light. “I was going to ask you to marry me.”
             
Tears gather and slip from my eyes without me even realizing it and I reach for him. His kiss is the
most tender
thing I have ever experienced in my life as his lips brush across mine as if he is afraid to break me. I hold him onto him and tears continue to fall. His lips move to my hair and he starts whispering sweet nothings. The same sweet nothings that I had heard in my dreams at the hospital…

             
I pull back just a little to look into his still wet eyes. “You were there.” I whisper. “You kept talking to me even when I was in the coma.”

             
“Of course I was there.
I set there for days at a time without ever leaving that room. Your father and Hunter would drag me away long enough to shower and eat from time to time but I couldn’t handle being away for long. I was terrified that you would wake up and I wouldn’t be there.” His thumb wipes away one of my tears and brings it to his lips. “And then when you finally did wake up you didn’t even remember me!”

             
I kiss his cheek, sipping at his salty tears. “Dr. Hayes explained that. He said that I was in so much emotional pain that my mind shut it down so my body could focus on other things. I went back to a time before I had met you,
before I fell in love with you, to hide from it.

             
He grimaces. “The doctors wouldn’t let me in to see you at all during the time you couldn’t remember. I hated being in the waiting room, which seemed so far away, when all I wanted was to hold you and tell you how much I loved you.”

             
For the second time my heart stops. I can’t even blink as I look up at him. This is the first time Keith has ever said those words to me. There had been times in the past when he had tried to say them, but just now they had spilled so easily from
him
. He brushes another tender kiss across my lips. “I love you, Kari.”

             
A whimper escapes me and I throw my arms around him. I never wanted this moment to e
nd. Those three little words from his lips are the most amazingly beautiful sound I have ever heard. “I love you too.” I breathe against
h
is ear and his arms tighten around me.

             
“Oh God!
I thought I would never hear you say that again.” He kisses my neck, my ear, my jaw. “I thought I had killed your love for me…!”

             
“Hush.” I whisper. “You could never do that. I told you, before. The only way you can lose me is if you want to lose me…” And for a little while I had thought he did want to lose me and have Bianca instead. But now I can see the truth.

             
We hold each other for few minutes in complete silence. I feel at peace for the first time in weeks and it is so restful and perfect being in his arms that I start to drift off. Until I hear him whisper
something
almost as beautiful as ‘I love you’.

             
“Will you marry me, Kari?”

             
I sit up, wanting to see his face. With a seductive smile I reach for him.
“Only if you get that ring cleaned.
No way am I going to wear it with Bianca stink still all over it.”

             
“Kari!” He pulls me down on top of him. “Kari, I love you so much.”

 

 

             

BOOK: Shatter Me
4.87Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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