Every time she’d left him, she’d done so under a veil of panic, certain this would be the time her secret friendship with Wade would be discovered by a man who would kill her before he’d let anyone else have her. But somehow, they’d gotten away with it. Other things had transpired that’d convinced her to stay away from Wade, for his safety as much as hers, but she’d never stopped thinking about him, wondering about him or wishing that things were different.

Had he thought about her, too? Or had he moved on with someone else? Was there a woman sleeping in his bedroom at this very moment? Would he hold her this way if he had someone else? If it meant saving her life, she knew for sure he would. But once her body was warm, would he leave her to join the woman he loved?

That was like a knife to her heart. Thoughts of him had kept her alive long before tonight, and all her hopes were pinned on him being willing to help her now. She wiggled even closer to him and encountered evidence that he wanted her as much as he always had.

He gasped as she rubbed against him. “Mia…”

The proof of his desire freed her to ask for what she wanted more than anything. “Will you kiss me, Wade?”

He stared at her, seeming incredulous. “Are you really here asking me to kiss you? Will I wake up tomorrow to find out I dreamed this?”

She placed her hand on his face because she’d wanted to for so long and now she could. “It’s not a dream. I’m really here, and I’ve been dying for your kiss for as long as I’ve known you.”

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and released it before opening them again. “What about your husband?”

“I don’t have a husband.”

A strangled sound escaped his tightly clenched jaw in the second before his lips found hers with the light of the fire and years of yearning to guide them. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m okay, and I really want you to kiss me.”

He kissed her like a man possessed. His fingers dug into her hair and shaped her skull, making it impossible for her to escape, not that she had any wish to be anywhere but right there with him. She’d waited what felt like forever for him to kiss her, and the reality was a thousand times better than the fantasies had ever been.

To call this a kiss didn’t do justice to the feelings that exploded inside her as his tongue found hers in an erotic, sensual dance that made her dizzy and weak with longing.

“Mia…” He withdrew slowly, gently kissing the uninjured side of her face, jaw and neck. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.”

“Don’t stop.” She sounded desperate and wanton but couldn’t be bothered to care. Combing her fingers through his hair, she brought him back for more.

They kissed like they were afraid this was all they’d ever have. Perhaps it was. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to help her, and if that were the case, she’d have no choice but to leave him. For his sake, as well as hers, it would have to be all or nothing.

One kiss became two and then three, and when they came up for air, he was pressed up against her, and she wasn’t cold anymore. Not even kind of.

He gazed at her, the firelight turning his hair and skin to pure gold. “Who hurt you, Mia?”

“The man I used to love.”

“Why would he do this to you?” He ran his fingertips gently over the bruise on her left cheek.

“That’s a very long story.”

“You can’t go back to him,” he said fiercely. “I knew he was hurting you, but I couldn’t prove it, and you’d never talk to me about him.”

“Because I couldn’t.”

“How did you get here?”

“I drove as far as I could, but my car got stuck in a drift on the way into town. I walked the rest of the way.”

“That’s miles from here!”

“I don’t know how far it was, but it took a long time, and then when I got here and you weren’t home… The last thing I remember is reaching for the door hoping you wouldn’t mind.”

“I wouldn’t have. Of course you could’ve come in.”

“I must’ve passed out before I made up my mind.”

“My place isn’t easy to find. You’d have to know where it is to find it, especially in this weather.”

“After you gave me your address, I looked it up on a map, and I memorized the route.”

“Why, Mia? Why did you memorize the way to my home?”

“Because I knew I’d come to you as soon as I could. I only hoped that I’d still be welcome after all this time.”

“You’re always welcome with me. You know that.” He looked at her with love and joy and hope. So much hope that her heart contracted. “You still haven’t told me what happened or why you came tonight, in the middle of a blizzard.”

“Because…” She swallowed hard, summoning the fortitude she needed to say the words. “I need you to do something for me.”

“I’d do anything for you.”

His fierce words made her want to weep from the relief of knowing she hadn’t misjudged him or his feelings for her.

“Tell me what you need, Mia. There’s nothing you could ask of me that would be too much.”

Looking up to meet his intense brown-eyed gaze, she said, “I need you to marry me.”