Page 196 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

“You really mean it?”

Something in his expression breaks.

“Yes.”

One word.

No hesitation.

I press my fingertips to my lips, trying to control the trembling.

“I didn’t know that you could.”

His breath catches faintly. “Neither did I.”

That nearly finishes me.

A strangled sound escapes, half laugh, half sob, and I turn away because I cannot keep looking into those devastated blue eyes without doing something reckless.

Like crossing the room.

Like throwing myself into his arms.

Like forgiving things that still hurt simply because loving him hurts too.

Then Caleb speaks.

“Soph…”

His voice is rough enough that I turn.

He has barely moved since Lucian’s confession. His shoulders are rigid beneath his jacket, his hands loose at his sides, but the man who normally carries danger as comfortably as another person wears a watch suddenly looks as emotionally exposed as I have ever seen him.

For some reason, that scares me even more.

Caleb is the one who laughs.

The one who eases tension before it becomes unbearable. The one who can turn Lucian’s impossible pronouncements into something I can almost survive.

There is no smile now, just raw, unvarnished emotion.

“I love you too.”

My heart stops all over again.

“Oh.”

“I know he’s a hard act to follow.”

Despite everything, I smile. “Caleb…”

Then his gaze settles on mine, and there is nowhere for either of us to hide.

“I love you, Sophie.”

The second time is quieter.

It hurts more.