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She nods, studying me.

“And what happens when you don’t need me anymore, Dalton? What happens when you get bored with me?”

I reach my hand out to her and suck in a breath.

She looks down at it and then slowly places her hand in mine.

And I can breathe again.

“I don’t know what the future looks like, Lennon. I never really thought I’d have much of one.” I swallow hard, forcing myself to hold her gaze. “And I told you I’m really fucking bad at this. That I have no clue what I’m fucking doing here but I know that I don’t want a life that doesn’t have you in it. I want to wake up with you, come home to you. I want your shit all over our house. I want your voice in my ear and your hand in mine and I don’t see that changing.”

“Right now.”

I nod, her words another punch to my gut. “Right now and for as far as I can see, baby. Can you trust that, at least? Can you trust that I have no intention of going anywhere and if that changes, I’ll talk to you?”

“I… I don’t know,” she whispers, staring up at me. There is still a hesitation in her eyes but they are brighter than they were before.

“I need you hear me, Lennon,” I tell her, pulling her closer and she allows me to. Once she’s up on her knees as well, I reach up and place my hand on her cheek, dragging my thumb back and forth across her skin. Her eyes find mine again. “You own me, baby. Body, mind and soul. All of me is yours and yours alone. Do you trust me?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lennon

“Do you trust me?” he asks, his blue eyes searching mine, begging, desperate for an answer. The question settles between us and for a moment, I forget how to breathe.

Do I trust him?

I want to.

God, how I want to.

Everything he just told me was so damn real and some parts absolutely shattered my fragile heart while others I needed to hear. I want to take those gorgeous words and tuck them away somewhere inside me, somewhere safe where no one else can touch them.

Because I want this.

I want us.

But do I trust him?

Dalton stares at me like my answer might break him and the more the silence stretches between us, the more achingly frantic he looks. Then, from somewhere deep in my mind, comes the answer.

Yes.

I pull in a breath.

There is the truth of it.

From the very moment I met Dalton, I’ve trusted him with my body and apparently, my heart. But coming from a girl who doesn’t really trust anyone, that is scary as hell.

There is no denying it, though.

I trust him.

“Yes,” I whisper and his body sags as he releases a breath, his hand still on my cheek. “I do but I still need you to answer my question, Dalton.

His brows furrow. “Which question?”

“What happens when you don’t need me anymore?”