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She’s decided.
And I don’t know what she’s going to say when she gets here, but I already know what my answer is.
Whatever it is,yes.
A thousand fucking times—yes.
She stops in front of me. And for the first time since I let her go, the world doesn’t move. It waits. Held in the space between her inhale and my restraint.
There’s no spotlight, no mic. Everyone might be watching us, but Amelia’s only speaking to me when she says, “I hated every second of not being able to look at you.”
My chest pulls tight.
“I didn’t leave because you hurt me. I left because my body and mind kept reacting like I wasn’t safe. Even when I knew I was. Even when you were right in front of me, doing everything right.”
She pauses. Breathes. Doesn’t look away.
“And I knew I had to work on that. Because if I didn’t, I was going to ruin something I never wanted to lose.”
Her gaze flickers, then holds.
“I thought that was why I left. I honestly did. But here’s the real truth...I was scared of how much it felt like home. You. This. Us.”
I don’t move.
Because if I do, I’ll fall apart.
“I wanted to stay.”
Her voice cracks.
“And that terrified me.”
The room is so fucking quiet I can hear the shift in her breath.
“But I’m not scared anymore.”
I’m going to break. I fucking know it.
“You loved me when I couldn’t love myself. You saw me when I didn’t know how to be seen. You gave me space, and time, and safety, and you asked for nothing I wasn’t ready to give.”
Her throat bobs. Mine does too.
“You never asked me to choose. But I’m choosing now.”
She steps closer.
So close I could touch her. But I don’t.
“I know what the collar really means now. I want it back. Not because I’m yours—” She stops. Corrects herself. “Notjustbecause I’m yours. But because I finally know how to be mine, too. And I want both.”
I don’t breathe. I just feel. Andfuck, I feel everything.
“I’m not asking you to marry me, Gage. I’m telling you that I’m going to marry you.” She swallows. “If you still want that. If you still wantme.”
Fuck me.
The woman I love just walked through fire to come back to me.