Page 167 of Dream On, Liar

I groaned, moving myself off of him, and dropped my head back against the cushion dramatically, staring up at the ceiling like it had personally betrayed me. “We’re in a cabin in a village far away, cut off from the real world, and you’re worried about my rules.”

He raised a brow, completely unbothered. “I’m worried you’re going to wait twenty minutes and tell me you’ve made another mistake and then I’m going to be stuck with you for days.”

I snapped my head back up to look at him. “That was one time.”

“It was one very memorable time, and if I remember correctly, you wanted just as much as space from me, as I did.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I won’t.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“I promise,” I added, softer this time, because something about the way he was looking at me made my chest tighten in a different way now.

His gaze held mine, like he was trying to decide whether to believe me or protect himself.

“I want this,” I said quietly.

His expression shifted immediately. Something in him went still again—but this time it wasn’t distance. It was attention.

I swallowed. “I want you.”

There it was.

Out in the open.

No hiding it behind frustration or sarcasm or anything else I usually used to survive moments like this.

Just the truth.

Raw and unfiltered.

Something flickered through his eyes, so fast I almost missed it.

Hope.

Fear.

And something deeper than both.

“But?” he asked quietly.

Of course he did.

Of course he knew me well enough to hear the shape of the word before I even said it.

I looked away for half a second. “It has to stay between us.”

The change in him was immediate.

His body went still in a way that felt different from before. He didn’t pull away. But something closed behind his eyes.

“For now,” I added quickly, because I could feel the shift and it scared me more than I wanted to admit.

He stayed silent.

I looked back at him. “My dad can’t know.”

His jaw tightened slightly.