She moved back a little and looked right into his blue eyes. “It must’ve been really hard on you too. Of course I never thought of it like that, given what I thought went down, but you basically gave us up for me. And that act of complete self-sacrifice is something I don’t even know how to comprehend. I’m sorry I never thought about how you must’ve handled all of this since you told me the truth. It seems incredibly self-centered of me.”

He shook his head. “There’s no need for you to apologize. I dropped the bomb on you that everything you thought was true wasn’t, so it’s natural that you haven’t processed all the implications of what truly happened. And that’s on top of all the threats to your life.” He took a deep breath. “But you’re right. It broke my heart to do that to you, and it was even worse to see you hurt and then to ultimately be alone. I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t dated anyone since you, but there’s been no one who could even begin to compare to you. You had my heart all those years, Layla, and you still have it completely.”

She inhaled deeply as she took in his words. In her gut, she knew she was looking at the man she could spend the rest of her life with. In that moment together, it was just the two of them, opening up their hearts and revealing their true selves. The man and woman they were today—not ghosts of the past.

She scooted closer to him, and he took her cue. He put his hand gently behind her neck and drew her to him. They locked eyes once more before he kissed her. They had kissed a thousand times before, but this was like their first kiss all over again. The sparks flew between them, the attraction was undeniable, but this was so much deeper than that. This was a kiss that was not only healing old wounds but was also the promise of new beginnings together.

After a few moments, he broke away. As she stared into his eyes again, so many words were exchanged, but not one word was spoken. There was no doubt in her mind that she had never stopped loving Hunter, but today a fresh new love had been born.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

“You did what?” Aiden’s brown eyes widened as he looked at her.