I chuckled. “Then we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, okay?”
He slid an arm around me. “I just don’t want to hurt you,” he admitted in a quiet tone. “There’s always a risk. Every time I go to work, there’s a chance I might not come home. And it just… kills me to think of what that would do to you.”
I wanted nothing more than to tell Jake I loved him and how much he meant to me, but instinctively, I knew it would be too much for him right now. This was already pushing his boundaries. Instead, I put a hand to his neck and stroked his jaw, waiting for him to look at me. “Even if that happened, I’d still think you were worth it. You’ll always be worth it to me,mi estrella.No matter what.”
“I want ice cream.”
We both jumped at Harrison’s voice, startled to see he was only a few feet away.
“Do you have any?” he asked.
Jake and I barely contained a laugh, stepping out of our embrace. He slid his hand into mine as we turned back to the house, gently squeezing. The tension and trepidation I saw when I first approached him were gone now, replaced with what I could only describe as hope. For the first time all night, he looked relaxed.
“I don’t think so,” he said to Harris, “but I think I have some Oreos.”
“Ohh! Yum!”
