The crying inconvenient truth that ran through her heart didn't go quiet when he finally looked up at her. It only shouted louder when she saw his recognition. Preston whispered from her memory about love accepting all parts of a woman fractured in time, and her own thoughts reminded her just what it meant that Preston understood this almost immediately. But the conflict twisting at her wasn't enough to stop Evey from laying her palms on either side of Aidan's face. Her thumbs followed the high line of his cheekbones.
The truth. The truth.
The truth.
She loved Aidan desperately. (And John... And John.) The conflict came through in the hesitation, the tiny jerk of her chin - but she nevertheless pulled him to her mouth and kissed, hard and desperate and starving for him.
How long, how long had it really been? A few weeks. A year and a few months. A lifetime. She'd waited a lifetime for someone like him.