“Not everyone does.”
“Lila.” Her name wrapped around her. “Look at me.”
“I am.”
“Then see that I am not that man anymore. I am not hollow. I am not hiding. I am not living in half-light.” His breath eased. “You woke something in me. Do not ask me to deny it.”
She trembled. There was no disguising it now.
“You must not say such things,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Because I cannot bear it.”
“Cannot bear what?”
The words escaped her before she could stop them. “That you might mean them.”
Silence expanded. Not empty. Altering. The kind that settles deep and does not leave things as they were.
“I do,” Marcus said softly.
Her throat tightened.
He reached out slowly, giving her time to pull back, and brushed the back of his fingers along her forearm. Barely a touch. Enough to undo her. Not enough to claim her.
“I will keep you safe,” he said.
Her eyes burned. “It is not safety I fear losing.”
His hand stilled. “What, then?”
She swallowed. “Control.”
Something in his expression shifted. Not pain. Not anger. Something fierce and unexpectedly tender.
“You do not have to control everything with me,” he said. “You can simply be.”
Her breath shuddered.
He stepped back. Deliberately. As if one moment more would unmake them both.
“We should bring Henry in,” he said.
His voice was steady. She heard what it cost him.
“Yes,” she whispered.
He opened the door, then paused.
“Lila.”
She looked up.
“I meant every word.”
Lila believed him. That was the most frightening part of all.