Page 52 of Awakening Storm

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Takeshi came boundingback, interrupting the quiet aftermath of their love-making and her thoughts about how incredible it had been, how she wanted to be with Aidan for the rest of her life. The trouble was . . . he hadn’t asked her to stay.

The pup growled, showing off the shoe in his mouth. She laughed. It was the one that she’d lost when she’d first arrived—or perhaps he’d stolen it.

“Hey, that’s mine,” she said as he ran by her. Aidan kissed her once more, before letting her go.

The dog darted around them as they threw on their clothes and then it took off again, still carrying her shoe.

Aidan called to the pup, but he didn’t listen. “I should just let him run it off,” he said.

Instead, they followed Takeshi. Aidan tracked him to Rhianna’s first campsite on the island. She glanced around at where she’d made a fire and where she’d slept. The Mylar blanket was tucked neatly beneath the ledge, forgotten.

“Oh my goodness. It seems so long since I arrived,” she said in a flash of memory.

Aidan came up behind her and circled his arm around her waist. She turned her head, and his lips brushed hers. “You were watching over me even then,” she said.

“Not exactly.” He smiled. “I wanted you to leave my island.”

She licked her lips and raised an eyebrow. “And now?”

“Now I never want you to leave.” He turned her to face him so they were nose to nose and she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I’ve always thought I’d live my life alone. And I always have. But since meeting you . . . I don’t want that anymore. I want to have someone to share things with. But I won’t make you stay. You can come and go as you please.”

Rhianna smiled as a warmth spread into her chest. “I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say at once.”

Aidan’s mouth fell open. He shut it and scowled. “I pour my heart out, and that’s all you have to say?”

She dipped her chin and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “That’s not pouring your heart out.”

He hesitated, seeming to think. He didn’t seem amused that she’d boxed him in. “I love you, Rhianna. I want you to stay. I want you happy. I want you—”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I love you, too, you crazy Guardian.”

Aidan kissed her again as Takeshi decided he was finished playing hard to get and came over and sat at their feet, her shoe still in his mouth.

“Now if only my grandfather could spend his last days here, to see the beauty and the peace of this place, everything would be perfect,” she said wistfully.

“That can be arranged,” Aidan promised.