Claire’s POV
Blushing is the only way I can respond to that as the warmth of his words spread throughout my being, quickening my pulse. My stomach grows nauseous at the same time, my eyes on the beautiful mouth that just said those claiming words to me.
My movements still, fork hovering midair, breath caught somewhere between my ribs. I hadn’t realized my gaze had been lingering, hadn’t noticed how openly I was watching him. Being seen like that should make me retreat. Instead, it makes the hard in me soften.
My chest tightens, not painfully, but with a fullness, and a quiet bloom of heat settles behind my sternum, steady and reassuring. I feel cherished in a way that doesn’t demand anything from me, that doesn’t ask me to perform or prove.
“Ditto.” Ditto? I used the Patrick Swayze lin
