I wrapped my arms around him, holding him safe. “You’re okay,” I murmured into his hair. “I’ve got you.” The echo of the previous night was right there. Theo’s breath was warm against my collarbone, and I felt the subtle tremor in his back, the rigid posture slowly melting into something soft.
“What’s happening in your head right now?”
Theo didn’t lift his face, his words muffled.
“I’m waiting for the part where you realise you made a mistake.”
My heart cracked open. “Theo, that’s not going to happen.”
Theo’s fingers clutched my shirt. “People always leave when they see too much.”
“I’m not people.” He stilled, and I stroked a hand down his back. “You’re not scaring me away, not with this. Not with honesty.”
“I don’t know how to be loved without feeling like I’m about to lose everything.”
My breathing caught.
There it was, the truth, the secret wound hiding beneath the surface.
“Then you won’t lose everything,” I told him. “Just… let yourself have something.”
He inhaled sharply, as if the idea itself was painful.
I touched his cheek again, guiding his face up gently until our eyes met. “You don’t have to be perfect for me. You don’t have to be in control. You just have to be here.”
Theo’s eyes shimmered with something dangerously close to tears.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.
“You won’t,” I replied with absolute certainty.
Theo shook his head. “You can’t know that.”
“But Idoknow that I want you.Allof you.” I smiled. “Even the parts you’re scared of.”
“You shouldn’t.”
“Try stopping me,” I said with a chuckle. His shoulders sagged, fatigue rolling off him in waves. “You’re tired.”
“More like emotionally concussed,” he muttered.
“Come to bed. Not for sex, just to be next to me.” I waited for his reaction.
Theo studied me for a moment, then nodded. “I’d like that.”
I took his hand and led him to the bedroom.
Take your time.
I’d give Theo all the time in the world.
And it felt as if this was the beginning of everything.
Chapter Twenty
Cameron
The first thingI registered was warmth.