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His jaw tightens. ‘No, you loved it, you just don’t want to admit it.’

He squeezes my hips. One hand slides up my side slowly, claiming ground inch by inch, until it’s wrapped around the back of my neck again.

‘If you think I’m going to stand there and watch another man’s hands on you like it doesn’t carve something out of me—’ His teeth graze his bottom lip. ‘Then you don’t know me very well.’

‘It’s been so long,’ I whisper. ‘So much has happened.’

‘I know.’

‘You don’t get to just—’

His forehead presses against mine, cutting me off.

‘I looked for you. Everywhere. I tried desperately to reach you, but you became a ghost.’

The confession knocks the air from my lungs.

‘You did?’

‘For months.’ His voice drops lower. ‘You think I didn’t notice when you disappeared? You think I didn’t tear the town apart trying to figure out where you went?’

‘You shut me out. I was desperate to be back in your life. It tore me apart that you shut me out and wanted nothing to do with me.’

I don’t know what to say to that. Part of me is thrilled by it. The obsession. The intensity. The fact that I mattered enough to be searched for.

‘You don’t get to decide when I’m yours,’ I say, but it sounds weaker now. ‘You made your choice. You wanted her.’

His hand tightens slightly at my neck, forcing my chin up just enough for me to meet his gaze.

‘I never wanted her,’ he growls, his eyes flashing with anger and burning into mine with a fierceness that makes me want to believe him. ‘She was a cruel girl who didn’t know how to navigate her trauma, and she took it out on you. You never gave me the chance to explain. I’ve been obsessed with you since the moment I met you. You know that. You should know there isn’t anyone else.’ His thumb stays hooked under my chin, forcing my gaze back to his when it wavers. ‘There’s no one who could ever compare. No one who could ever come close.’

The intensity in his voice makes my knees weak.

‘You don’t get to say things like that.’

‘Why?’ he demands softly. ‘Because it’s too much? Because it’s not normal?’ His forehead presses to mine again, his breath hot against my lips. ‘I don’t want normal, Bryn.’

‘You scare me,’ I whisper. ‘Because you have the ability to break my heart in ways no one else can. I know because you’ve done it before.’

‘But that’s the thing, Bryn, I never did the wrong thing, I never broke your heart. I just never got the chance to prove that.’

I swallow. ‘Easy to say now that it’s only your side I’ll hear.’

His hand slides from my chin down to my throat, not squeezing it, but just resting there, feeling my pulse race. ‘I don’t know what I have to say or do for you to believe me, but I’m not letting you slip through my fingers this time. Not unless you tell me right now that you don’t want this,’ he says, moving my hand to his chest. ‘That you don’t want me.’ His eyes search mine. ‘You’re mine because you feel this too. I know you do.’

My silence betrays me. He exhales slowly, like he’s been holding it in for months.

‘I’ve tried,’ he says, quieter now. ‘I tried to let you go. I tried to tell myself you’d be happier with someone who isn’t me. Someone who hasn’t got issues and isn’t possessive. Someone normal.’ His thumb traces the line of my collarbone. ‘But every time I picture you with someone else, it feels wrong. There is no one else for me. There never was. You can walk away again,’ he says, even as his hand tightens slightly at my waist, contradicting the offer, ‘but don’t lie to yourself and pretend what we have is replaceable.’

‘I’ve never been able to forget you,’ I admit, and it feels like stepping off a ledge. ‘I tried to hate you. God, I tried. It would’ve been easier.’ My fingers curl into the front of his shirt again, like they need something solid to hold onto. ‘But every time I close my eyes, it’s you.’ My voice drops to a whisper. ‘I don’t want normal. I tried to want it. I tried to convince myself I should, but normal is boring. Normal is not you.’

‘I don’t know how to love you in a way that’s light,’ he murmurs.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever wanted light,’ I breathe back.

‘So don’t walk away,’ he says, softer now. ‘Not if you’re going to spend every day pretending you don’t feel this too.’

Then he kisses me. His mouth claims mine like he’s been starving and finally found something worth devouring. His tongue sweeps across mine, deepening the kiss into something desperate and urgent. When he finally pulls back, my lips feel swollen.