I love you.
The words slammed through her head with the force of truth finally given a name.They echoed there loudly, insistently, undeniably, until it felt like a miracle they didn’t spew straight out of her mouth.Those three little words didn’t feel new.They felt uncovered, as something that had been there all along, waiting for the last excuse to fall away.
The realization didn’t crash over her in a wave.It bloomed, quiet and incandescent, filling spaces she hadn’t noticed were empty until now.It scared her a little how big it felt.How close it came to spilling out of her.
Chloe closed her eyes, gripping the edge of the sheet to keep the feeling contained.She’d never been reckless with words like that.She didn’t toss them out lightly or use them as a balm or a bargaining chip.Love wasn’t something she confessed unless she was prepared to lose everything attached to it.It was a commitment and a risk, a line you crossed knowing you couldn’t go back.
And right now?
Losing him would destroy her.
Kayne’s arm tightened around her, protective even in sleep or near-sleep, his thumb brushing a slow, absent arc along her belly.The gesture was so natural and instinctive, it stole her breath all over again.Maybe his body had already decided something his mind hadn’t put into words yet too.
He was still vibrating beneath the surface.She could feel the tension he hadn’t released, the fear he’d folded inward and locked down tight.Making love hadn’t been about pleasure alone.It had been about proof.About holding onto something solid when the ground kept giving way.About choosing each other when everything else felt uncertain.
She shifted slightly, fitting herself closer, her body already knowing this was where it belonged.
I love you.
The words came again, quieter now, but no less certain.
She thought of Robin and the way fear had finally cracked through her optimism.That moment on the gym floor, she’d realized bravery and denial weren’t the same thing.She thought of Kayne standing between her and everything scary and dark.Not because it was his job anymore, but because it was personal.Because somewhere along the way, she had become his line in the sand.
Because it washer.
Her throat tightened.
If she said it now, it would sound like desperation or fear talking, or a woman clinging to the nearest lifeline in a storm.
Chloe didn’t want that.
She wanted to choose a moment that was clean and steady.Not a moment wrung from her by terror and grief.She wanted to give the words when they could stand on their own.So she stayed quiet.
Instead, she slid her hand over his impressively muscled midsection and rested her fingers above his heart, memorizing the rhythm.Chloe let him feel her there without words.Let him know—maybe not consciously, but in the way bodies understood—that she wasn’t going anywhere either.
Kayne stirred, softly murmuring unintelligibly, and pressed a kiss to her hair without opening his eyes.
Something warm and fierce settled inside her: certainty.Soon, she promised herself.When fear wasn’t screaming so loudly and danger wasn’t pressing in from every side, she could say it without flinching.
For now, she stayed exactly where she was, wrapped in his arms and loving him silently, fiercely, and completely.
She let the truth exist without demanding it be spoken yet.For the first time since this nightmare began, that felt like enough to hold her together.
