Page 131 of What Comes Around

“I guess we’re getting married,” I murmured.

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

A part of me wanted to panic. This was too fast. Too much. Everything I had spent years avoiding.

In another life, I had trusted someone completely. I had believed in forever. In promises. In love that was supposed to protect me.

And it had destroyed me.

I had died because of it.

I had sworn I would never let anyone get that close again. Never give someone the power to break me. Never hand over my heart like that.

But the truth was…

I wanted this.

Wanted him.

Even if it terrified me.

Chapter 41: When the Past Knocks

The next morning stretched out quietly. Knox had insisted I stay home, and I had pushed back at first, telling him I was fine, that I could go to work like nothing had changed. He didn’t argue, just pointed out that it was Friday, that I could turn it into a long weekend, that I needed rest. That stress wasn’t good for the baby. And that he would work from home too.

I hadn’t had a good counter to that.

Sometime before lunch, a knock echoed through the house.

Titan lifted his head from the rug, ears pricking as I set my glass down and padded toward the hallway. Knox had stepped out about twenty minutes ago to pick up muffins, leaving just the two of us in the quiet.

“It’s okay,” I murmured automatically, even though I wasn’t sure it was.

Another knock.

I paused at the security panel and tapped the screen, pulling up the camera feed.

My breath caught.

Nick.

He stood on the front step, hands in his coat pockets, shoulders slightly hunched against the cold.

For a second, I thought I was imagining it. That my mind was playing tricks on me.

I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in years. Not since I decided that cutting all contact was the only way to finally let him go. Not since the last time we saw each other face to face, when everything between us had shattered for good.

Seeing him now, standing on my porch, hit me like a punch to the chest.

He looked different.

Older.

The boyish charm he used to wear like a second skin was gone. His jaw was sharper, his eyes tired, his shoulders heavier. In my past life, I had never seen him grow this old.

Another knock.

Titan moved closer to my side, his body pressing against my leg.