Stolen Hearts (2012 Wattys Finalist)

Chapter 19 - All She Wants

He gently pulled her to him so he could hold her, but she resisted, sobbing, "No, Robert! I don't think we should!"

"Georgie please let me hold you. I have something I need to say to you."

She looked at him, taking deep breaths, trying to stop herself from crying. He pulled her gently toward him again, saying quietly, "Please?" She gave in and reluctantly went to him. He held her, but she kept her body sideways to him while she wiped her tears with her sleeve. He could feel how tense she was.

He said quietly, "Georgie, I've been the biggest bloody idiot. I'm so sorry for what I've put you through these last three days. You didn't deserve this."

She immediately shifted in his arms so she could lean against him, saying, "I understand, Robert. You're afraid of what might happen to me." She was still apologizing for him, he thought. She never thinks she deserves better.

"I didn't trust you, and I should've. You know better than I do what the stakes are, and I should've listened to you." She became very still in his arms.

He struggled to find the words he needed to say. Everything he thought of sounded stupid in his head. He knew it was because he still had so many doubts this was a good idea.

Finally he said quietly, "I think we should do what you want. I love you and if you want to love me back then I think that's what we should do."

She struggled to get free of him so she could look at him, her eyes wide. "What are you saying?" she whispered.

"I think we should be together, if that's what you want," he said.

She looked at him with her intense gaze for a few minutes before she said quietly, "What do you want?"

"I won't be happy unless you're happy. And I don't think you'll be happy unless we're together. So that's what I want. I want us to be together." He was surprised how good he felt when he said the last sentence.

Her mouth opened in shock as she looked at him even more intensely. "You really mean it?" she whispered with tears coming to her eyes.

He said quietly, "I really mean it." She broke down crying and hugged him tight.

While he held her, he prayed for the strength he was going to need. It would be easy to love her, but everything that came with it would be far more difficult and dangerous than anything he'd dealt with before. Was he making a mistake, he wondered suddenly, as all the doubts surged forward. Was he being too weak to do the right thing? Then he thought about what they'd been through over the last three days, and pushed the doubts out of his mind. He'd made the best decision – and he was going to stick to it.

She pulled away from him so she could look at him, smiling through her tears and said, "Robert, you've made me so happy! I can't believe it!" He could see the happiness in her eyes, and she was glowing again. He was relieved to see her looking like she used to.

She wiped her tears away with her sleeve, saying, "Thank you so much!" He didn't like her thanking him, like he was doing her a favor.

He put his hand on her cheek, saying, "Don't thank me, Georgie. I should've done this from the very beginning. You were right all along." She put her hand on his hand, leaning into his caress, closing her eyes.

As the realization that they were a couple settled over him, Robert realized he didn't have any idea how they were going to keep it a secret from the bastard.

"Georgie?" She opened her eyes. "I know we need to be careful. I want you to decide how we do this. You know best what we should do. So just tell me, and that's what we'll do, yeah?" This had to be done on Georgie's terms. She knew what the risks were, she was the one who would pay the ultimate price, and she had to be the one in charge.