“I watch you with our sons and something inside my chest tightens until I cannot breathe. I hear you laugh and I feel… peace. When you are hurt, I feel it as if it is my own pain. When you look at me…” His voice faltered, then hardened. “I want more than I have the right to want.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came.
He laughed once under his breath, a sound raw with disbelief at himself.
“I negotiated contracts my entire life. I controlled outcomes. I anticipated risks.”
His gaze burned into hers.
“But this… you… I do not know how to manage this.”
“Zayn…” Lena whispered conflicted.
His voice rose, emotion finally breaking free.
“Damn it, Lena — I developed feelings for you!”
The words struck like lightning.
The room seemed to shrink around them.
Her breath vanished from her lung
