“You want to talk about it?” I ask.
She hesitates. Then nods. “Yeah.”
I sit beside her. “Start wherever you want,” I say.
She takes a breath but doesn’t look at me when she starts talking. Her hands stay clasped tightly in her lap, fingers twisting together like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“I didn’t tell you everything about him,” she says quietly.
I already know that. I heard her give her statement to the cops. But I let her say it.
“He’s been calling,” she continues. “Texting. Threatening me.”
My jaw tightens. I keep my expression neutral.
“For days,” she adds, her voice shaking slightly now. “Different numbers. I kept blocking them, but he just…kept at it.”
I exhale slowly. “You should’ve told me.”
“I know,” she says quickly. “I know. I just—” She stops. Swallows hard.
“I didn’t want to make things worse,” she finishes.
“Worse how?” I ask.
Her eyes lift to mine. “You,” she says softly. “I didn’t know what you’d do if you knew.”
Her words are a punch to my gut—but not in a bad way. Because she’s not wrong. I run a hand through my hair, exhaling. “I would’ve handled it.” A beat. “But I get why you didn’t. You were trying to protect me too. From whatever I’d have done.”
“Yes,” she says.
We both go quiet. Because we both know how that ended.
“He’s gone now,” I say finally.
She nods. Relief flickers across her face. But it’s mixed with something else. A deep worry and fear. “I thought I was going to lose you,” she whispers.
That lands harder than anything else tonight. I exhale. “The same for me,” I state. “When Millie told me he was in the alley, my mind blanked.”
Her lips press together. “Noah. I’m already in too deep.”
A faint, humorless huff leaves me. “Yeah?”
She nods slowly. “I didn’t plan this,” she continues. “Any of it. You, me…this.”
“Me neither.”
She lets out a small breath. Then looks at me fully. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Everything in me stills. I’ve wanted to hear these words for so long. I was scared that she didn’t feel the same. Now, there’s no hesitation. No second-guessing. “I already am,” I say.
I watch her eyes widen. Silence stretches between us. She shifts closer, leaning in until our breaths mingle and she presses a tentative kiss on my lips. I make no move to take over. It’s her move. She slides her tongue over my lower lip, sending all my blood straight to my cock. Then she gets bolder, kissing me deeply, slowly until my breathing turns ragged.
I cup her cheeks, finally taking over and swallowing every gasp, every moan, and every sigh. I break the kiss reluctantly, my cock already hard as granite. One look at her pink, swollen lips and flushed face and I almost want to finish what I started.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I say after a moment.
She stiffens slightly. “What is it?”
