“I’m tired of just surviving,” he says quietly. “I’m tired of feeling like being happy is betrayal.” His hand slides from my waist to cradle my face. “You’re not asking me to forget.”
“Never.”
“You’re asking me to live.”
“Yes.”
The word is soft.
Certain.
His mouth hovers close to mine.
“I don’t want to live half-alive anymore,” he murmurs. “I just want to love you.”
Chapter 13
Tessa
Idon’t breathe when he says the words.
“I just want to love you.” The words don’t explode. They don’t echo. They don’t shatter the room.
For a second I just stare at him. At the man who has been bracing against me for months. At the firefighter who runs toward flames but has been running from this.
His hand is still at my jaw, thumb warm against my cheek. His eyes aren’t wild. They’re steady.
Terrified.
But steady.
“You’re choosing me?” I ask, because I need to hear it in every possible way.
“Yes.” He steps closer. Not hesitant. Not pulling back this time. “I tried to do what was right,” he says, voice low and rough. “Tried to convince myself you deserved someone easier. Younger. Uncomplicated.”
I lift my chin. “You think love is supposed to be easy?”
“No.” His thumb drags slowly along my cheekbone. “I think it’s supposed to be real.”
The heat between us shifts. It’s no longer tension straining at a leash.
“I’ve built a life that didn’t have space for this.”
“This?” I press.
“You.”
My pulse stutters.
“You think that makes this wrong?” I ask.
He exhales through his nose, gaze dropping briefly to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “I thought maybe it did.”
“And now?”
His hand slides from my jaw to the back of my neck, fingers spreading, firm and possessive in a way that makes my knees go soft.
“Now I think letting you walk out that door would be the only thing wrong.”
