Chapter 89 - After We Get Out Of Here (1/2)

That was embarrassing to admit out loud but I didn't want to lie. It had taken the craziness of the last few days for it to finally sink in that I had fallen in love with him. I was even denser than Franz.

A glorious smile lit my husband's face and he stroked my cheek with his thumb. What he said next shook me to my very core. He said thank you. He was thanking me for loving him.

His life had been so horribly sad and devoid of love that he thought it was necessary to thank me for (what I realized now) was completely natural relationship progression. Arranged marriage or no, Al was a lovable guy once you got to know him. As averse as I had been to staying with someone I had married out of necessity, I had been doomed to fall in love with him from the start because of the kind of person he was.

More affected than I should have been by his depressing words, I pounced on him and began kissing him with all of my might, desperately hoping my feelings got through to him. Al was such a lovely person and he didn't even know it.

His childishness and apathy were because of the way he was raised. Yet when it came down to the wire, he knew how to pull through for others. Why else would he want to reclaim the lands of a people he didn't even know he was a part of until two days ago?

He didn't care about much but when he did care, it was with a much deeper conviction than most. It was one of the things I loved about him.

Al responded to my kisses as if he was drowning and they were air. His desperation made my heart ache so I kissed him harder, grasping the back of his shirt with one hand as the other tangled in his hair.

”Katie,” he sighed against my lips.

I knew it couldn't go farther than this if I didn't want to end up like poor Mariela but in the moment I didn't want to stop. I needed him as much as he needed me; it had been a rough couple of days and there was no better way I could think of to make us feel better than finally becoming one.

I buried my face in his chest. I couldn't do it. I couldn't put myself in danger like that.

His heartbeat sounded in my ear, thrumming like a hummingbird's. He obviously didn't want to stop either but respected my wishes to wait until we were settled in a safer place.

All we had to do was wait until Sigmund was out of the picture. Then it wouldn't matter if I got pregnant. The one part of this extremely derailed novel that I hoped stayed the same was Sigmund's execution. It was the only way we would be able to live peacefully and rebuild the Kanta civilization.

”I love you too,” Al said finally as his heartrate began to slow. ”Should have mentioned that earlier.”