Sloane’s POV
There it is again. Those words. I believe him because I have come to know him a bit, and he is not the type to throw around those words casually. I see and feel it in the way he treats me. In the way he conducts himself around me.
It feels like a physical hit, striking low in my belly and sending a violent ripple straight up my spine. My throat tightens instantly, locking the air right in my chest.
Every single self-defense mechanism I’ve spent building up screams at me to laugh it off, make a joke, or remind him of how fast we’re moving.
Instead of pulling away, my hand twitches in his, my fingers tightening on his hand with an involuntary, desperate pressure. My heart hammers against my ribs, heavy and erratic, as a strange, overwhelming heat blooms behind my sternum. It
