When I didn’t say anything else, he nudged my side gently. “Ask me something.”
I blinked, caught off guard.
“What?”
He smiled against my neck. “You’ve let me ask you everything. I want you to ask me something. Anything. Whatever you want to know.”
I froze.
My mind scrambled for questions, any question, but it was like trying to find something new in a story I’d already memorized. Everything I could think of, I already knew.
He was waiting, though, so I searched for something. Anything.
“Have you…” My throat felt tight. “Have you ever been in love?”
The question slipped out smaller than I meant, fragile and stupid.Idiot. I could’ve asked about his favorite color, favorite song…anything safe. Instead, I’d cracked myself open.
Matty went still behind me. His fingers froze on my hip. The room turned thick, the quiet pressing in.
I couldn’t stand it. Heat flooded my face, the shame terrible and sudden. I shifted, pulling away fast. His cock slid out of me with a wetpopthat made me want to disappear. I curled onto my side, knees to chest, hiding my face in the pillow.
He didn’t move for a beat. Then the mattress dipped. His hand settled warm on my shoulder, not pulling, just resting.
When I finally turned my head to look at him, he was already watching me.
His eyes caught the dim light, unreadable. But it didn’t seem like he was avoiding the question. Or that he was about to run screaming from the room. It seemed like he was justfeelingit. Turning it over in his mind before letting it go.
“Yes,” he finally said.
The single word cut through me. My chest went tight, my stomach hollowing out.
I didn’t even know why it hurt so much. Of course, someone like him had been in love before. Of course there had been other girls.
Still, I felt it. The sting. The twist. The foolish, impossible jealousy that burned hot and fast.
I looked away before I could stop myself, my breath catching. “Oh.”
For a heartbeat, he didn’t say anything.
Then, softly, so soft I almost didn’t hear it, he said, “With you.”
My head jerked back toward him. “What?”
His eyes didn’t waver. “You asked if I’ve ever been in love,” he said simply. “Yeah. With you. From the second I saw you.”
The words sank deep, spreading through me in a rush that felt both shattering and whole. Like he’d just spoken something my heart had been waiting its entire life to hear.
He said it like it was fact. No hesitation. No teasing smirk. Just truth.
And it was too much.
Tears blurred my vision before I felt them fall. My chest tightened, my throat aching as the first one slid down my cheek.
He saw it immediately. “Hey,” he murmured, sitting up slightly. His hand caught my face, thumb brushing under my eye. “Hey, look at me.”
I did. Barely. My vision swam.
“You’re crying,” he said softly, his brows drawing together. “Why are you crying, pretty baby?”
