Page 67 of Reaching Gavin

I had no idea how many safety regulations private pilots had to follow, but I got the sense I’d just broken every one of them.

“I don’t want you to leave.” I said. “Not just because I don’t want to have to stay in this plane and fly with you to have this conversation, but because I miss you. And I need you. And I love you.”

Gavin’s head fell forward, obscuring his face momentarily before he reached up, his lips twitching slightly, and lifted me out of the plane.

“Is that so?” he asked, as he set me on my feet. Frowning at my lack of shoes, he lifted me again slightly so that my feet were on his and not the hot tarmac.

“I love you,” I repeated. It seemed like the most important right now. Not my shoeless state or that I’d nearly caused him to crash on the runway. None of it seemed to matter as much.

“I knew that the second you got on the plane,” he murmured. He still wasn’t looking at me, but his hands held my hips tightly as if he wouldn’t—couldn’t—let me go.

“I understand if you have to go think about things,” I said in a small voice. “But I couldn’t let you leave without you knowing how I felt.”

“What do you want?” he asked.

“You,” I said without question.

“Are you sure? You didn’t seem like you wanted me the other day.” He looked up, his blue eyes shining with pain. He was still hurt, despite my declaration. I couldn’t blame him for that. I’d put him through the wringer. We’d put each other through it.

“This is new,” I said slowly as I gained confidence. “It scares me a little. I didn’t want people to think that the reason I got a job was because I was seeing you. I wanted to feel like my accomplishments were my own.”

“Cassie,” he said, shutting his eyes for a moment, as if he was shouldering a heavy burden. When he reopened them his gaze locked on mine. “Let me make something clear to you. I built NorthWest Investments. It means the world to me. You mean more. I would rather have you. If you want to leave your own mark, then I’ll be by your side while you do it. If you want to do it together, then we can start something new. But you can’t sabotage us. You can’t second-guess us. Have faith in us.”

He added softly, “I do.”

“Sometimes I’m a neurotic, crazy bitch,” I confessed to him. He started to shake his head, an involuntary, instinctive reaction to hearing a woman say that about herself, no doubt. “Seriously, if you understood the amount of analysis and self-doubt I deal with every day, you wouldn’t be surprised when I did something completely insane, like trying to wreck the best thing that ever happened to me. I promise that I’ll try to do better if you promise to have a little patience with me when I falter. Oh, and also, to let me know before you make major life decisions for us.”

“Telling everyone that we’re together is a joint life decision?” he asked. I thought I saw a smile creeping onto his lips.

“Hell yes, it”— I began, but his mouth was on mine before I could continue my tirade. He kissed me deeply. It was full of longing and apology and hope and promise. All the doubts, all the fear, all the second-guessing vanished instantly. In his arms, I had my answer.

When we finally broke apart, Gavin’s eyes searched mine. “Then I guess I better tell you this.”

I raised a questioning eyebrow. Whatever it was I could handle it as long as I was here in his arms.

“I love you, Cassie Hart. I’m not going anywhere. I want you. I don’t want easy. I want crazy and neurotic and brilliant and clever and kind. I want you.”

“I want you, too,” I whispered.

He kissed me again, more softly this time. I knew it would be the first kiss of a lifetime shared together, so when he took my hands and glanced at the plane, I wasn’t scared when he asked, “Where do you want to go?”

Because I’d reached my decision. “With you.”