“Yeah. I mean, I’m not going to lie, I keep waiting to feel uncomfortable or panicky or something…but I just don’t.” She didn’t say anything, so he continued. “I always thought that being in a relationship with someone would feel oppressive, caged. Like being suffocated or cornered—”
“Sweeping me off my feet here, Erik…”
“No, listen. That’s the whole point. That’s what I thought it would feel like. It doesn’t feel like that at all. It feels so good, it’s almost scary.”
“You’re a romantic. Admit it.”
He laughed softly, picturing her face in victory. “I admit it. With a caveat.”
“Which is?”
“I’ve become a romantic. It was the effect.”
“Of?”
“The cause. You.” She was silent for a long moment. “Kat? You still there?”
“I miss you. I wish you were here right now.” Her voice was thick, and it made his blood rush south.
“Yeah?”
“Mmm.”
He swallowed, trying to think straight, but he was good and distracted. “What, um…what would we—”
He thought that the sound she made was a laugh, but he wasn’t sure. It was low and breathy and made his insides turn hot and tense.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Minste.”
“Kat!”
“Mmm?”
He shook his head, frustrated not to be with her. “Nothing. Yeah, tomorrow.”
After hanging up, he’d actually thought about making the three-hour round-trip ride just for the chance to kiss her, even grabbing his keys and heading out to his car before talking himself out of it. He had to be at work ridiculously early in order to finish a full shift before leaving for the weekend. He’d barely get to see her before he’d have to turn back around.
Not to mention, if she was within touching distance, he wouldn’t get a second of sleep. He had stalked around his apartment for an hour before changing into sneakers and taking a midnight run. Even then, his body wasn’t giving up on the fantasies circling around in his head and he tossed and turned before finally falling asleep.
And now here he was, about to see her after three days that felt like three years. He pulled up in front of the clinic and smiled at the pink rolling suitcase sitting on the top step.
The door opened.
Little white sneakers sprinted down the steps toward him, and he met her on the walkway in front of the stairs. She threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her off the ground, frantically finding her lips with his. His mouth slanted over hers again and again, and small sounds of pleasure rose from her throat, driving him crazy. She wound her fingers in his hair, grasping, then laced them around his neck, brushing the short hairs with her fingertips, making darts of pleasure rush up and down his spine as she slid down his body.
He kissed her, branding her, until his thirst and hunger were quenched, until he believed that—for now, at least—she belonged to him.
Finally she drew back. Unwilling to let her go, he kept his arms around her. She rested her cheek on his chest as it swelled up and down with the force of his breathing. Staring down at her blonde head, the word “love” hovered uncertainly in the recesses of his mind. He hushed it, pushed it gently away. For now, he was certain of just one thing, and it was enough to fill his heart to the brim:
Now that he wasn’t afraid anymore, he didn’t know how he’d ever live without her.
***
Katrin brought the bouquet to her nose and inhaled again.
Not one hundred percent sure what to expect of Erik-the-Boyfriend, her shoulders had bunched up in surprise and delight when she saw the happy, Swedish-colored flowers sitting on her seat.
“For me?”
“No, for José.” He rolled his eyes. “Yes, for you. Isn’t that what boyfriends do?”
She had touched his cheek with her palm, holding his eyes, willing herself not to cry. “Thank you,” she whispered.
If she was waiting to see indecision in Erik’s manner, it was becoming more and more apparent that something had changed inside of him. The man she’d met weeks ago with his derisive comments about commitment, who claimed an inability to give his heart to someone, was nowhere to be found.
Just as Erik had been able to change the course of his life by leaving his deeply entrenched life in Gardiner to start over with a new career in a new place, he was somehow able to leave his old fears about relationships and commitment behind, as well, or so it seemed. Just as he had embraced his life as a college student in Great Falls or an officer in Kalispell, he was similarly able to successfully change course emotionally and open his heart to Katrin.
For her part, Katrin had felt—had known, really—for some time that her heart was expanding to make room for Erik Lindstrom in her life.
The first time they touched, she’d felt the muscles of her heart contract and release. The first time he called her Ӓlskling she felt it, and again when he panicked in the park. She felt it again after his ridiculous proposition when he knelt before her and told her he couldn’t stop thinking about her, and later on top of Wild Horse when he woke up and murmured that she was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, and again when he had murmured the words I like you too much before their disastrous dinner two weeks ago. In each of those moments her heart had expanded a little, and she felt it making room for something really big, really important.
But, it was last weekend, when she was so sick, that she felt her heart beating for him, only for him. Seeing him beside her when she woke up on Monday morning was the most
