She shook her head, putting her cup down. “No, just the last part.”

“About me loving you?”

“Yes.”

“I said I loved you too much to let you go. Lately you’ve been reminding me about the year I mentioned in my proposal, but there isn’t a year time frame, Bella. I threw that in as an adjustment period to not scare you off. I never intended to end things between us.”

He saw the single tear flow from her eyes. “You didn’t?”

“No. I love you too much to let you go. There, I’ve said it again and I will keep saying it until you finally hear it. Believe it. Accept it.”

“I didn’t know you loved me, Jason. I love you, too. I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you at your family’s charity ball.”

“And that’s when I believe I fell in love with you, as well,” he said, pushing the chair back to get up from the table. “I knew there was a reason every time we touched a part of my soul would stir, my heart would melt and my desire for you would increase.”

“I thought it was all about sex.”

“No. I believe the reason the sex between us was so good, so damn hot, was that it was fueled by love of the most intense kind. More than once I wanted to tell you I loved you but I wasn’t sure you were ready to hear it. I didn’t want to run you off.”

“And knowing you loved me is what I needed to hear,” she said, standing. “I’ve never thought I could be loved and I wanted so much for you to love me.”

“Sweetheart, I do. I love every single thing about you.”

“Oh, Jason.”

She went to him and was immediately swept up into his arms, held tight. And when he lowered his head to kiss her, her mouth was ready, willing and hungry. That was evident in the way her tongue mated with his with such intensity.

Moments later he pulled back and swept her off her feet and into his arms then walked out of the kitchen.

Somehow they made it upstairs to the bedroom. And there in the middle of the room, he kissed Bella again with a hunger that she greedily returned. He finally released her mouth to draw in a deep breath, but before she could draw in one of her own, he flipped her dress up to her waist and was pulling a pair of wet panties down her thighs. She barely had time to react before he moved to her hips to bury his head between her legs.

“Jason!”