He leaned back in his chair. “How'd you know where to find me?”
“Just a little investigative work. The GBC gave me your mother's address. Your brother said you were staying here. I went to your room, and when you weren't there, I tried the bar.”
The waitress arrived with fresh drinks for both of them. Thank god. He stared at her, his dark eyes piercing and his expression unreadable. “So again, I ask . . . why did you come?”
Damn.
He wasn't going to make this easy for her, was he?
“I can do better than I have been, Alejandro,” she said softly, looking down at the surface of the table that separated them. “If you'll let me, I want to try.”
He said nothing.
She raised her gaze, found his intense, dark eyes and unreadable face, and blundered on. “Back at the dome Ari said something that made a lot of sense. She said, you have to love like you've never been hurt because life won't be worth much if you don't. I realized that life isn't worth much to me if you're not in it, Alejandro. In fact, I have trouble imagining a future that doesn't have you in it. I knew it before that last day under the dome, but it took thinking you'd been killed by pulse fire that brought it home.”
“I told you I loved you, and you said nothing.”
She shook her head. “I know. I was just tongue twisted and still shocked by the revelation I'd had.” She paused. “And dumb. I was definitely dumb. I should have said it then, that day.”
His eyes narrowed.
Oh, god.
This wasn't going well. She babbled on. They said confession was good for the soul, at least. “So let me say it now. I love you, Alejandro, and I'm hoping that what you said back at the Shining Way was true . . . that you love me back.”
He said nothing for several long moments, and Daria's face grew warm. She looked away from his inscrutable gaze and began to regret making the trip. No, that wasn't true. She didn't regret coming here and telling him the truth. That was something she'd needed to do, regardless of the outcome.
But maybe there was no hope for them as a couple. Maybe too much lay between them. Maybe she was stupid for ever thinking this would work between them. Maybe Alejandro didn't want it to work and she'd misread him horribly.
Maybe she'd made too many mistakes.
His hand covered hers.
She looked up into his face and her breath hitched. His expression was inscrutable no longer. Loveâpure, undiluted, like nothing she'd ever received from another human beingâshone in his eyes. They held her in shining warmth. “I've been waiting a long time to hear those words, Daria.”
“I'm sorry I didn't say them sooner.”
“I think you just need practice.”
She squeezed his hand. “I think I just need you, Alejandro.”
They leaned across the table in the middle of the bar and kissed while laughter rang out around them.