He leans his forehead against mine as I feel his entire body relax. “Thank fuck. I was ready to beg, but knowing you want the same thing makes this a little easier.”
“You can still beg if you want,” I say jokingly, “but maybe we should just start with some apologies.”
“Can we talk?” he asks, reaching for my hand and leading me over to the couch.
“Yes, please.”
As he grips the back of his neck, I watch him from my seat while he paces in front of me for a few moments before speaking.
“Waverly… I fucking love you,” he breathes out, kneeling in front of me now and squeezing my hand. “I love you so goddamn much, and there’s nothing in this world more important to me than you.”
“Hayes…”
“No.” He stops me by placing a finger on my lips. “Please let me finish.”
“Okay.”
“I owe you an apology, and I know you said you were tired of me saying that I’m sorry, but I truly fucking am. I let you down. I promised your brother I wouldn’t hurt you, but I did. I promised you that I would be there for you and support you, and I wasn’t. I misplaced my priorities when my father got sick and I reverted back to that work-a-holic frame of mind. I thought that promotion was what I wanted more than anything in the world, but I was wrong. You are. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to get a divorce. I want to stay married to you more than anything.”
And those words were all I needed to hear. It pains me that it took this long for us to get here, but at least we’re finally on the same page.
“Hayes, I’m sorry I wasn’t more supportive,” I speak, cutting him off but needing him to hear this. “And I’m sorry that I was so quick to run. It was an instinct and I should have fought it harder. I acted selfishly. I knew you were just trying to manage everything so your dad didn’t have to worry. I get that now, and I hate that I couldn’t understand that more. But I just wanted you to let me support you too, even if that meant listening to you vent when I had no idea what you were talking about.” I wipe under my eyes with my free hand. “I’m not going to lie, it hurt when it felt like you chose your job over me, that once you got what you initially wanted, that I wasn’t important anymore. It hurt to be left eating alone in a restaurant, and it killed me when you missed the spaghetti dinner at the shelter.”
“I see that now too. And I’m so sorry again. I made a mistake, but I know better now. And I realized that the position wasn’t what I wanted. I hated it. I hated that I was working so hard for something that I didn’t really love. And in the process, I made you feel inconsequential. It happened so quickly, I didn’t even realize it, but I lost sight of us. I lost sight of what I truly gained from this marriage—not the promotion that I thought I wanted, but the woman I fell in love with, the woman I never knew I could love like I love you.”
“I love you too, Hayes.” I lean forward and meet his lips with the same desperation I feel coming from him. As he kneels between my legs, I wrap my arms around him and pull him in, connecting with him in the way that makes me feel like we’re back on solid ground. His kiss tells me everything I need to know—that he’s being honest, that we’re going to be okay, that our first fight is not the last, but now we get to make-up after it.
“I quit my job,” he says when we part, forcing me to rear back to make sure I heard him correctly.
“What?”
“I’m not the CEO anymore. I’m back to where I was before, managing my clubs.”
“Are you happy?”
He nods assuringly. “Yes. Very. I feel like a weight has been lifted.”
“Well, then I’m happy for you.”
“Are you still going to take that job?” The concern in his eyes has me recalling that I told him about the job offer before I stormed out of the club opening.
“Oh. Well, I have an interview next week with them.”
“If that’s what you want, we’ll make it work.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I can work from Vegas during the week, or split my time between here and there. I want you to be happy, Wave. You deserve it.”
I internally swoon for this man. “Can we cross that bridge next week? Right now, I just want you to hold me.”
“No make-up sex?” he asks as he wiggles his eyebrows.
“Oh, is that what you think needs to happen next?”
He reaches under my knees and sweeps my legs toward him, sliding me down on the couch so my back is resting on the cushions as before he hovers over me. “Definitely. I have a lot of making up to do. I was a bad husband. I hurt you. I hurt us. It is my duty now to make you feel better.”
“And make your dick feel better too?”
“I mean, that is definitely an added bonus.”
Bouncing my eyes back and forth between his, I clasp the sides of his face and hold his stare. “I love you. And I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too, Wave. And I love you more than anything. Please don’t ever forget that. Even when I’m stupid, even when we’re stubborn and both think we’re right, and even when you leave the caps off of all the pens.”
Laughter bubbles out of me. “Those clicky pens just don’t write the same, Hayes. And seriously, the caps aren’t hurting anyone.”
“Me! They’re hurting me!” he exclaims while pointing to his chest.
“You’ll survive.”
With a press of his lips to mine, he shuts me up, swirling his tongue with mine and leaving me breathless.
“Now I can,
