Then he leans in, lips just brushing mine. “Katie.” His voice drops. “Look at me.”
I look in his eyes and he holds my gaze like it’s something breakable, like he’s checking for permission in every breath I take.
“Every part of you—” He kisses my forehead. “Your brain, this heart.” His hand slides to the middle of my chest. “Your soul—you have no idea how you change a room or how you’re raising the most genuine, sweetest child I’ve ever known. You are so beautiful and strong, and I’m the luckiest man alive just to be part of your world.”
My eyes sting as a tear escapes down my cheek. He kisses it away. “Cam…” I shake my head. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“It’s all true, Katie. Cross my heart.” His finger marks an X above my heart.
“That’s my heart.”
“Yeah, but I want it to be mine.”
He dips his head and softly kisses the hollow of my throat. The contrast makes me gasp, and his lips curve against my skin like he heard the exact sound he was waiting for.
Cam’s hand shifts at my waist, guiding me sideways instead of closer. “Come here,” he says quietly, nodding toward the rock wall that leads behind the falls.
“What—”
“Trust me.”
We move carefully, water pushing around our legs as he leads me along the edge. The roar of the falls grows louder, then strangely muffled all at once as we step into the shallow pocket behind it. The curtain of water spills in front of us, turning the rest of the world into blurred motion and sound.
It’s cooler here. Quieter and private.
Cam braces one hand against the rock behind me. Water beads along his shoulders, drips from his hair. He looks at me for a long second, like he’s deciding something. He exhales through his nose, a small, almost nervous sound I’ve never heard from him before. His thumb brushes my hip, once. Then he stills.
“I wasn’t planning to say this today,” he says.
My stomach flips.
“I keep thinking I’ll wait for a better moment,” he continues. “When things aren’t messy. When you’re not dealing with everything that you are.” His jaw tightens slightly. “But every time I try to hold it back, it gets louder.”
I search his face. “Cam…”
“I love you, Katie.”
The words are honest and vulnerable.
“I didn’t mean to fall for you,” he adds, almost ruefully. “It just happened.” His eyes don’t leave mine. “I’m not asking you to say it back. I just need you to know.”
My chest feels tight, but not panicked. Overwhelmed in the best way.
I swallow. “You’re sure?”
He nods once. “Yeah. I am.”
The water continues to rush before us. He doesn’t move closer or try to fill the silence with words. Instead, he gently runs his hands through my wet hair.
I step into him, closing the space between us. My forehead rests against his chest, right over his heart. It’s beating hard. His arm comes around me, holding me like he understands exactly how fragile this moment is.
I don’t answer him right away. I stay where I am, listening to the water, to his breathing, to the way the world seems to narrow down to just this small space behind the falls. The words he said are still there, settled between us.
When I finally move, it’s not because I’m swept up or carried away. It’s because I want to be closer.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve you.”
His eyes turn soft. “Funny, because I feel the same way.”
