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Fuck.

My eyes burn with unshed tears as that possible future plays out in my mind and my stomach flips.

“Lennon, baby,” he whispers, dragging his thumb across my cheek. “Why would I ever not need you?”

His touch, the feeling of his hand on my face and his thumb trailing over my skin, it pulls me in and makes everything in me go quiet.

But the question still needs to be answered.

I pull back slightly, trying to clear my head. “What if I get sick, Dalton? What if I get run down again? What if I have my own shit to work through and I can’t be there for you? To take care of you? What then?”

“What?” he asks, his head jerking back and his brow slamming down over his eyes. “Baby, I don’t need you because you do things for me. I mean, you do… but not like that. It’s just you. I need you.”

I shake my head, the tears building in my eyes. “But why?”

Because as much as I trust him and as much as this all feels so damn easy, I can’t let myself fall back into a situation where I’m drained on a daily basis.

“Because you’re you, sweetheart,” he says, his eyes softening as he meets my gaze. “Because when you walk into a room, it somehow gets brighter and everything in me takes a breath.”

My chest aches.

I know that feeling well.

But I didn’t realize he saw me in the same way.

“Because your touch,” he says, releasing my face to grab my hand and thread his fingers through mine. “Is the closest thing I’ve ever gotten to feeling like I truly belong somewhere. Because every second of every day, I want to know what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.”

“Dalton,” I whisper, a couple tears spilling down my cheek and he reaches up with his free hand to wipe them away.

“I want to hear you laugh every single day. I seek out anything I can think of to hear that amazing sound. Shit, I’ll make a complete ass of myself just to hear you laugh, baby.”

I can’t help but let out a huff of laughter, more tears dripping down my face, as I think about some of the things he’s done to hear that sound.

He grins. “There it is.”

He scoots closer and cradles my cheek in one hand again while our other hands are still intertwined, trapped between our chests.

“I want to wrap you up in me and protect you from anything and everything. I want to give you the softest, easiest, happiest life possible. You don’t have to take care of me, baby, because there is nothing I would rather do than spend my time taking care of you.”

His words hit me like a boulder and I suck in a breath.

Shit.

I’m so out of my depth here.

If he doesn’t want me to take care of him, doesn’t want me to do anything for him, then what is my purpose here?

“Then, what do I do?” I ask and he shakes his head.

“You just be here, my love. Just be here by my side and be you. That’s all I need from you.”

My heart is thundering in my ears and my stomach flips as I shake my head.

“I don’t know how to do that, Dalton.”

He laughs. “Fuck. Me either. But what do you say we figure it out together?”

I stare at him, chewing on my bottom lip as my mind spins.