"What about you?" I asked. "How do you feel about this? About us?"
"Like I finally found where I belong. Like all the running and hiding and fighting was leading me here. To you. To this life. To this world." He touched my face.
The emotion in my chest threatened to overwhelm me. I pulled him into a kiss instead of trying to speak.
When we finally broke apart, I said: "You're dangerous, you know that?"
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true. You're dangerous to my control. To my discipline. To every wall I've spent years building. You walked into my life and destroyed all of it."
"Is that a bad thing?"
I thought about lying. About protecting myself. About maintaining some semblance of emotional distance.
Instead I told the truth.
"No. It's the best thing that's happened to me in years."
Julian smiled. Bright and genuine and devastating. "Good. Because I'm not done being dangerous yet."
"I'm counting on it."
We lay together in comfortable silence. The morning sun streaming through the windows. The city waking up outside. Both of us content in a way that felt new and fragile and absolutely worth protecting.
I'd spent years convinced that attachment was weakness. That vulnerability was dangerous. That love was a liability I couldn't afford.
Julian was proving me wrong about all of it.
And for the first time in a very long time, I was okay with being wrong.
I was okay with being vulnerable.
I was okay with falling in love with someone I was supposed to be protecting.
Because protecting Julian didn't make me weak. It made me stronger. More focused. More determined.
And loving him? That didn't make me vulnerable. It made me human.
I pulled him closer and decided that being human might be worth it after all.
Even if it terrified me.
Even if it meant risking everything I'd built.
Even if it meant admitting that Julian Bianchi had completely destroyed my carefully controlled life and I was grateful for it.
"What are you thinking about?" Julian asked.
"You. Us. How everything changed in a month."
"Good changes?"
"The best changes."
He smiled and kissed me. "Then let's see what the next month brings."
I kissed him back and silently agreed.
