Edie nodded, her gaze still on Magnus. A moment later, the door shut, and then she was alone with him.
“I’d get up to greet you,” Magnus said, “but it’s taken me an hour to get this lady in my arms.”
“You’re patient,” she commented quietly. “That’s sweet.”
“Not really. I just have a plan of conquest.”
That made her smile. “Is that so?”
“Yup. I bathed in tuna before I got here. All part of the strategy.”
She giggled. “You did not.”
“I didn’t. I was kind of hoping you’d show up at some point.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Oh?”
Very slowly, he turned in his chair until he was facing her. The man was blatantly gorgeous, even in jeans and a casual shirt. Her gaze moved over him hungrily, noting his hair had grown out from its traditional short stubble. He had a few days’ growth of beard along his jaw, and circles under his eyes.
He’d never looked more gorgeous to Edie.
“Hi, stranger,” he said, smiling at her. His movements were stiff, his hands holding the cat as if he were burping a baby. “This one likes my neck, I think.”
“I see that.” Edie gave him a hesitant smile. “I got the app.”
“About time. I’ve been going mad over the last few days wondering if you’d seen it. I finally had Gretchen install it on your phone to ensure you’d get it.”
“She’s sneaky, that Gretchen,” Edie said. She stared at him awkwardly for a moment, full of longing and not sure how to confess it all. “You’ve been busy.”
“Incredibly busy,” he agreed, a smile in those green-gold eyes. “Putting all this together has been a madhouse since its inception. I’ve had two guys working on the app, sixteen managing the creation of the cat cafés, and god knows how many other people pulled in.” He gave a small shake of his head. “It’s turned into its own little industry.”
Tears blurred her eyes again. “And you did . . . all of this for me?”
“Of course I did,” Magnus said. He gently set the cat down on the floor and got to his feet. He moved toward her, and then she was enveloped by his cologne, the scent of his skin, the heat of him. He leaned in and brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. “Don’t you think you’re worth it?”
“No one else does,” she said softly.
“No one else matters but me.”
She leaned into his touch. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed the hell out of you,” he admitted, cupping her cheeks and tilting her head back until she was looking up at him. Tears slipped out of the corners of her eyes. “Why are you crying?”
“A million reasons,” she admitted wryly, dashing her hands at her eyes, her fingers brushing against his.
“Give me a few of them.”
“I’m so incredibly . . . touched at all of this.” Edie gestured at the walls. “The café, the app, everything. I’m humbled at how much good you can do for these cats when all I can do is take them into a tiny townhouse—”
“Be fair to yourself,” Magnus butted in. “There’s a lot you can do with money, and you’ve done just fucking fine on your own. Don’t denigrate your efforts simply because I had extra cash to throw around.”
“—and I’m a little terrified,” she continued. “Okay, a lot terrified. I’m afraid of getting hurt, and afraid of letting you in again, and I’m even more afraid of what happens if I don’t. So here I am, scared out of my wits and desperately hoping that you’ve got a kiss or two left in there for me—”
His mouth swooped down on hers. His lips pressed to her own, and then Edie began to cry again, even as she kissed him with aching, needy little flicks of her tongue against his.
“I love you,” he murmured between frantic kisses. “Love you. Miss the hell out of you. Want you back. Please come back.”
“I miss you, too,” she told him, nuzzling her nose against his and closing her eyes. She leaned against him and wrapped her arms around him, soaking in his warmth, his big form, his everything. Her Magnus. Her fingers curled against his shirt. “How . . . how are you doing?” It felt weird to say, but she wanted to know how he’d been coping since she’d left. It felt like lifetimes.
“Fucking awful,” he told her, squeezing her smaller form against him. She wanted to die of happiness at the feel of those big hands on her. “Can’t sleep at night, and I’ve got seven cats roaming around—”
“Wait, seven?”
A massive grin flashed across his face. “Lady Cujo had her kittens. Five of them, right under my damn bed. She pulled the blankets off while I was working and by the time I came back, boom, kittens everywhere.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
He shrugged. “Find them homes when they get old enough. Get her fixed. Maybe keep one.” He gave her a sheepish look. “I’m becoming addicted to cats.”
And because that was the perfect thing to say, she stood on her tiptoes, ignoring the flare of her knee, and pressed her mouth to his. “I love you.”
Magnus groaned, pressing kisses to her mouth. “I love you, too. Come back to me. We’ll fill the apartment with cats and frighten everyone we know with our pet hoarding.”
She giggled. “That’s too many cats for one apartment.”
“I’ll buy them an apartment,” he said, kissing along her jaw, to her ear. “Whatever. Just come back to me.”