A tear slipped down my cheek. “Those years were hell for me as well. At least you could come and see me from afar. But I had to fight with myself constantly to forget you. The fight I knew I would never win. Everyone thought it was just a crush of a teenage girl.” I shook my head with my vision blurry with tears. “But it was much, much more than just a crush. I had lost my heart to a boy I never thought would love me back.”

“But he did. More than anything, more than himself, with every fiber in his being,” he whispered, brushing his lips against mine. The crack in his voice told me his pain. I could express my agony with my tears, but he couldn’t. “I’m so sorry, baby. Because of my one decision you had to suffer that much. But trust me, I did it only for you. Even if it killed me.”

I felt his rough stubble against my palm. “I know.”

He pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me tightly. “I love you, my rose. I love you so fucking much.”

I smiled. “I love you too.”

We went silent for a moment until I spoke again.

“Ace?”

“Hmm?”

“You said you were waiting for me to complete my studies. What would you do if I really had managed to move on from you and fell in love with someone else?”

His grip tightened on me. Greek accent was deep as he replied, “Then I’d kill that bastard and make you fall in love with me again.”

I giggled, shaking my head. “What if I truly loved that man and hated you for doing that? What’d you do then?”

“Rosebud,” he warned.

Pulling away, I looked at him. “Tell me. What would you do?”

He pulled me back into him. “I’d kidnap you, tie you to my bed and seduce you until you forgot him and start loving me again.”

My eyes widened. This caveman! “What if I kept hating you and wouldn’t love you back as you wanted? What would you do then? What would you do if I never loved you again?”

His shoulders tensed. Jaw clenched and unclenched. His fingers tightened on my hips as he stared at me with hard, yet unreadable eyes.

Then I saw the vulnerability. The uncertainty. The fear.

“I’d die.” He let out a shaky breath. His thumbs gently brushed over my cheeks. “I’d die if I had lost you completely. You don’t know what you mean to me. This man standing before you only breathes for his Rosebud. Without her, he is nothing. Without you in my arms,” he leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine again, “I’d be lost. You’re my light, baby. I can’t think of my life without you even in my wildest dreams. I can’t live without you.”