He didn’t wait for her to acquiesce. His uninjured arm wrapped around her and pulled her against him, and he wished fervently that his other arm wasn’t in a sling.
“Put your arms around me,” he said.
“You’re bossy.”
“Damn straight I am.”
Her arms went around his neck. “I love you,” she repeated. “I came here to tell you that.”
“Say it again.”
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. God, Buzz, I’ve missed you.”
He buried his face in her hair. Closing his eyes, he breathed in her scent, let it fill his senses. “I’ve missed you, too,” he said.
“I’ve spent the last two weeks agonizing over what to do. But this is the only thing that felt right. The only thing that makes me truly happy,” she said.
“I never stopped loving you.”
“I hurt you.” Pulling back slightly, she looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry for that. I mean it.”
“I couldn’t give you what you wanted. I hurt you, too.”
“You had good reasons for not wanting children.”
“Fear is never a good reason, Kel.”
“I know that now.”
He kissed her. The pleasure jolted him. The rightness of it sent a zing of happiness through him. The kind of happiness some men search for their entire lives and sometimes never find.
She pulled away again, put one hand against his cheek. “It was incredibly selfish of me to demand you give up your career because I was afraid.”
“You lost your brother and your father. That kind of loss doesn’t leave a person unaffected.”
“It almost cost us everything,” she whispered.
“But it didn’t.”
She blinked rapidly, fighting tears that continued to stream unacknowledged down her cheeks. “You risked your life for a son you’d never met. You would have risked your life even if he hadn’t been your son. I never realized what that meant before.”
“I’m just a man, Kel. I’m the same man I’ve always been. Stubborn. Uncompromising—”
“Courageous and decent and kind.”
He kissed her mouth, her temple, her nose. “Keep going.”
“Buzz, you’re not the same man you were before.”
Pulling back slightly, he met her gaze, felt the power of it shake him so profoundly he raised his hand to touch her cheek, just to make sure she was really there.
“I’ve seen the way you look at Eddie,” she whispered. “I know you love him.”
Buzz stared at her, awed and shaken and so moved he couldn’t draw a breath. “I do,” he said. “I love him with all my heart. I want to be his father, Kel.” His voice broke, but he trudged on before he lost his nerve. “I want you to be my wife.”
She trembled in his arms. Even before she spoke Buzz saw the answer in her eyes. He felt the answer coming through her body and into his.
“Marry me,” he said.
She smiled through her tears. “That would make me incredibly happy. I know it would make Eddie happy, too.”
“I’ve only got two bedrooms in the cabin, but I’ve been meaning to add an extra bedroom. Maybe I could just make it two.”
“Eddie’s always wanted a little brother or sister.”
“Maybe both.”
She laughed. “Okay, two bedrooms.”
“And a dog.”
“You’ll love Brandy.”
“You got yourself a deal, Mrs. Malone.”
The rise of applause spun them around. Buzz looked up to see his entire team standing just outside the glassed-in office. Eddie was perched on Tony Colorosa’s shoulders, clapping his hands.
“Buzz just kissed my mommy!” he squealed. “Flyboy, did you see that?”
Tony Colorosa raised his hand and Eddie slapped his palm in a high five. Madigan and Maitland broke into raucous laughter.
Grinning, Buzz crossed the room, closed the door and lowered the mini blinds. “Idiots,” he muttered, then turned to his new fiancée and took her into his arms. “Where were we?”