Why is he nervous?
She waited, biting her lip to prevent filling in the silence.
I want to know. I have to know. What does he want from me?
He looked down at their hands, not meeting her eyes. “I want so many things, and I hope you want them, too.”
“What do you want?” She reached to cup his jaw and turned his face, so he was looking at her.
“You said what happened at that motel was a one-time thing,” he said, the words rough as if he was forcing himself to say them. His eyes were anguished. “Clodagh, I hope you want more from me. More than just…”
“A quick fuck?” She offered, hating the words as she said them.
He flinched. “If that’s all you want from me, then I’ll leave now. I’ll walk back to the base. It will tear me apart, but you’ll never have to see me again.”
Her mouth had dropped open as he spoke. Her heart warmed as she dared to hope. “That’s not what I want. It’s not what I need.”
He took a step closer to her, reaching out with a shaky hand to grip her fingers in his. “It isn’t?”
“No. It isn’t. I want much more.” She smiled as she looked down at their hands, her much smaller fingers swallowed in his giant palm, but the way he held her was so gentle.
I am safe with Domik.
“I’m afraid,” he said, and she couldn’t have been more shocked if he had told her he was part octopus.
“You?” Her eyebrows had joined her hairline and she shook her head. “But you’re not afraid of anything.”
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not true.”
She took a step closer but stuffed her hands in her pockets to stop from reaching for him. “What are you afraid of, Domik?”
A thick silence fell between them before he spoke, his words low and quiet. “I’m afraid of telling you how I feel and you not feeling the same way. I fear being hurt. But most of all, I’m terrified of not telling you how I feel and spending the rest of my life alone, filled with regret.”
Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared up at him, eyes wide. The intensity of his gaze had her riveted to the spot. She could not have moved if she tried.
“You are my heart, Clodagh. You are the blood that pounds through my veins, the air that fills my lungs. Every waking thought and dream is of you. I exist because of you.”
She blinked. Once, twice. Her eyes stung and then she couldn’t blink fast enough to stop the tears that welled there. “Oh.”
He cradled her face in his hands, his thumbs catching the tears that fell and brushing them gently away. “Say something, please.”
She smiled a watery smile. “You love me.” The certainty of the statement filled her, a warmth unlike anything she had ever felt, making her heart swell.
“Yes. With everything I am.” A small smile lifted his lips before dropping, his usual stoic expression shuttering into place. “And now I’ve told you. If you don’t think you can return my—”
“No!” she cried, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing kisses to every bit of exposed skin she could find.
“You don’t love me?”
She laughed, pulling back so hazel eyes met brown. “No, silly. I love you more than anything. More than everything, on this planet and beyond. You just gave me a bit of a shock. Still waters run deep and all that.”
“I don’t understand,” he said, his brows knitting.
She laughed again, sliding her arms around his waist and breathing in the scent of sweat and plasma and that unique scent that was all Domik. “Never mind. It’s a human expression.” He lifted her in his arms, and she squeaked. “What are you doing?”
“We are both filthy. Let’s get clean.”
She waggled her eyebrows at him. “And then we can get dirty?”
