God, I’ve missed that even more.
“Now I know I’m prepared to find out,” he said, barely audible above the noise around us. After a beat, he added, “With you.”
The words had been in my head for so long, that I couldn’t keep them in a second longer.
“I love you,” I blurted.
For a fraction of a second, he didn’t move, didn’t speak. And then his hand tightened at the back of my neck, pulling mecloser, his other hand coming up to my face, holding me there as though he wasn’t letting me move anywhere, not now, not ever.
“I know.” His voice wasn’t steady. Then he frowned. “No.” He shook his head, his gaze locked on mine. “That’s not enough.” He tightened his grip. “I love you.”
Oh dear God.There was no hesitation, no distance, no restraint.
“I should have said it before you got on that train,” he went on, the words coming faster now, like something that had been held inside him too long. “I knew then. I knew, and I still let you walk away.”
My chest was so fuckingtight.
“I don’t do this,” he said. “I don’t lose control of something like this, I don’t—” He stopped himself, exhaled sharply, then started again, clearer this time. “I want you.”
He… he said that. Oh my God, he said that.
Stefan paused for a heartbeat. “In my life, not temporarily, not conditionally.” He stroked my neck. “I want you, however that works. However wemakeit work.”
Kiss me. Stop talking and kiss me.But I had to hear more.
“I thought I needed certainty before I acted.” Stefan cradled my face in his hands. “But what I truly needed was to decide I wasn’t willing to lose you.”
My breathing hitched. Because this was Stefan, and yet it wasn’t.
“So no,” he said quietly, his fingers tracing the line of my cheek. “I’m not pretending this is anything less than what it is.” His eyes met mine. “I love you.”
No retreat. No way to misunderstand it. And this time, there was nothing left between us.
I didn’t move or speak, because I wasn’t sure I could.
I’d imagined this moment, but never with this degree of certainty, not with him standing in front of me, holding nothing back.
Stefan Weber, the man who measured everything, who chose his words with care, who didn’t act until he understood exactly what he was stepping into, was standing in front of me, and there was no distance in him at all.
“Okay,” I said.
It wasn’t enough. I knew that the moment the word left my mouth. I laughed. “Sorry.” I shook my head. “That sounded?—”
“Inadequate?” Stefan suggested. His eyes sparkled.
I huffed out a breath. “Yeah.”
He didn’t let go of me. If anything, his grip remained exactly where it was, one hand steady at my neck, his thumb brushing along my jaw.
Grounding me. Keeping me here.
“I don’t have a speech prepared,” I admitted.
“I’d be disappointed if you did,” he replied.
I stared into his eyes, seeing him as he was, not the version of him I’d been carrying around in my head.
He’s really here.