Page 163 of A Wild Darkness

His eyes soften. “You love me?”

I nod, spilling tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. But I almost lost you and⁠—”

Sebastian pulls me into him. His warmth surrounds me, and I melt into his embrace and breathe him in. “You are my oxygen, Stevie. There’s no way I was going to leave you. Because as long as you’re living, you give me the air I need to breathe.”

The past weeks that have passed flash on the inside of my eyelids.

My arms wrap around his waist, and I squeeze him as hard as I can, afraid this moment won’t last. “I can’t lose you. And that’s why I need to be a part of your operation. Because if you go, I go.”

He hoists me up, wrapping my legs around his hips. “I will protect you forever.”

“Teach me to do what you do,” I say as he sets me on the bed, before kneeling on the floor in front of me.

“I will do anything you want me to.” His eyes blaze into mine as he looks up from bent knees.

My hands come to his face. “I want to be involved in everything you are.”

“I can do that.”

“And I want to learn from you—not be pawned off on Christian or Hayden for my protection.”

He slides between my legs, his face hardening. “I will always put your safety above everything else. So I can’t promise I won’t remove you from something I don’t feel like I can protect you from.”

I smile, because his answer is enough. And because as he kneels before me, he’s looking at me like I’m the only thing in the world. The intensity steals my breath. “Sebastian…”

He exhales slowly, then reaches for my hand. Sebastian Thompson guards—he protects and keeps pieces of himself locked away. But not with me. Not anymore.

“I spent years convinced I was going to be alone forever,” he says quietly.

My chest tightens, understanding that feeling myself. “I know.”

“When my parents died…” His voice roughens slightly. “Everything became about surviving.”

I squeeze his hand, and he squeezes back. “I had River. And the guys. Also Aunt Mae.”

“You have a family.”

“Not like this.” The words settle between us. Not like this. Not someone who sees every ugly part and stays anyway. Not someone who makes him laugh and challenges him, but chooses him. “Not like you.”

My eyes sting again.

“You’ve ruined me.”

The statement catches me completely off guard.

“What do you mean?”

A small smile appears. “Before you, I was perfectly content being insufferable.”

I laugh through the emotion gathering in my chest. “That’s your love confession?”

“It’s what you’re getting.”

“Terrible.”

“I know.” My heart feels impossibly full.

“I love you, too.” His forehead meets mine softly, and his words leave before I can second-guess them.