“Say it.” His voice barely sounded like himself. “If you mean it, I need to hear you say it.”

“I love you,” she whispered. “I want to be with you, but properly this time. Not sneaking around in the shadows. I want to walk in the sunlight with you, Cael O’Malley.”

His heart raced, but he forced reality into this situation. As much as he wanted what she seemed to be offering, he couldn’t do it. Not until he had the full picture. “Your nonprofit with all your fancy donors.”

“What about it?”

“If you date me publicly, they’re going to balk. Even if my family has cleaned up their image in the last thirty years, Boston’s memory is long. They’re going to have a lot to say about it.”

“Cael…” She covered his hand with hers, holding it to her face. “I don’t care. They’ll get over it or we’ll find new donors. Your aunt does just fine and she hasn’t distanced herself from your family or her past.”

It was the truth. Aunt Carrigan might have officially stepped away from the family business when she started her nonprofit, but Cael knew for a fact that she and Uncle James ran operations on the wrong side of the law. Sometimes all the money in the world couldn’t cut through the necessary red tape to save those who needed saving the most. They weren’t the type of people to let a little thing like something being illegal hold them back from their goals. They’d saved a shit ton of people that way.

He finally said, “I don’t want my presence to hurt you.”

“Oh, Cael.” Her smile wobbled a little. “Can I be honest about something?”

“Always.”

“I don’t want to date you, Cael.” She hesitated. “I don’t know how else to prove to you that I’m not ashamed of us. If you’ll give me a chance… I want to marry you. I want forever.”

The hopeful feeling in his chest only got stronger. She meant it. She had no fucking reason to say shit like this if she didn’t mean it. “Forever is a long fucking time.”

“I know.”

Just like that, all the shit he’d been carting around for the last twelve months dissipated. Cael wasn’t a fool. They didn’t have an easy road ahead of them. There would be pitfalls and family shit on both sides as they found the road that was theirs and theirs alone. But if he was with her? He didn’t give a shit what curveballs the world threw at them. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yeah. I want you, Eleanor. I’ve only ever wanted you.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Now, take me home so I can show you just how much I love you properly without the threat of someone walking in.”

*     *     *