The Welcoming

skimmed it lightly over her chin. “When you’re back on your feet again I’ll take another shot.”
    “It was nice of you to bring me dinner. I didn’t even thank you.”
    “No, you didn’t.”
    She leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “Thanks.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    After blowing the hair out of her eyes, she decided to start over. “Did we have a good crowd tonight?”
    “I bused thirty tables.”
    “I’m going to have to give you a raise. I guess Mae made her chocolate mousse torte.”
    “Yeah.” Roman found his lips twitching again.
    “I don’t suppose there was any left over.”
    “Not a crumb. It was great.”
    “You had some?”
    “Meals are part of my pay.”
    Feeling deprived, Charity leaned back against the pillows. “Right.”
    “Are you going to sulk again?”
    “Just for a minute. I wanted to ask you if the sheriff had any news about the car.”
    “Not much. He found it about ten miles from here, abandoned.” He reached over to smooth away a line between her brows. “Don’t worry about it.”
    “I’m not. Not really. I’m just glad the driver didn’t hurt anyone else. Lori said you’d cut your arm.”
    “A little.” Their hands were linked. He didn’t know whether he had taken hers or she had taken his.
    “Were you taking a walk?”
    “I was waiting for you.”
    “Oh.” She smiled again.
    “You’d better get some rest.” He was feeling awkward again, awkward and clumsy. No other woman had ever drawn either reaction from him.
    Reluctantly she released his hand. “Are we friends again?”
    “I guess you could say that. Good night, Charity.”
    “Good night.”
    He crossed to the door and opened it. But he couldn’t step across the threshold. He stood there, struggling with himself. Though it was only a matter of seconds, it seemed like hours to both of them.
    “I can’t.” He turned back, shutting the door quietly behind him.
    “Can’t what?”
    “I can’t leave.”
    Her smile bloomed, in her eyes, on her lips. She opened her arms to him, as he had known she would. Walking back to her was nearly as difficult as walking away. He took her hands and held them hard in his.
    “I’m no good for you, Charity.”
    “I think you’re very good for me.” She brought their joined hands to her cheek. “That means one of us is wrong.”
    “If I could, I’d walk out the door and keep going.”
    She felt the sting and accepted it. She’d never expected loving Roman to be painless. “Why?”
    “For reasons I can’t begin to explain to you.” He stared down at their linked hands. “But I can’t walk away. Sooner or later you’re going to wish I had.”
    “No.” She drew him down onto the bed. “Whatever happens, I’ll always be glad you stayed.” This time she smoothed the lines from his brow. “I told you before that this wouldn’t happen unless it was right. I meant that.” Lifting her hands, she linked them behind his neck. “I love you, Roman. Tonight is something I want, something I’ve chosen.”
    Kissing her was like sinking into a dream. Soft, drugging, and too impossibly beautiful to be real. He wanted to take care, such complete, such tender care, not to hurt her now, knowing that he would have no choice but to hurt her eventually.
    But tonight, for a few precious hours, there would be no future. With her he could be what he had never tried to be before. Gentle, loving, kind. With her he could believe it was possible for love to be enough.
    He loved her. Though he’d never known he was capable of that strong and fragile emotion, he felt it with her. It streamed through him, painless and sweet, healing wounds he’d forgotten he had, soothing aches he’d lived with forever. How could he have known when he’d walked into her life that she would be his salvation? In the short time he had left he would show her. And in showing her he would give himself something he had never expected to have.
    He made her feel beautiful. And delicate, Charity thought as his mouth whispered over hers. It was as though he knew that this first time together was to be savored and remembered. She heard her own sigh, then his, as her hands slid up his back. Whatever she had wished they could have together was nothing compared to this.
    He laid her back gently, barely touching her as the kiss lengthened. Even loving him as she did, she hadn’t known he’d possessed such tenderness. Nor could she know that he had just discovered it in himself.
    The