Page 118 of Can't Stop Watching

In love with you.

In love with YOU.

Well, fuck.

I stand frozen in the rain, words jamming in my throat like a traffic pile-up. What the hell do you say to that? Tohim? The man who watched me through hidden cameras, who killed three people to save me, who just said he's in love with me while rain drips off his stupid perfect jawline.

Something shifts in Dane's expression. The intensity in his steel-gray eyes flickers and dims, like someone turning down a dimmer switch. I didn't notice it before, but now that it's gone, I realize what I was seeing. Hope. It was hope, and I've just watched it die.

"Right." He backs up a step, then another. His shoes splash in a small puddle. "I understand."

He fishes his keys from his pocket, his movements stiff from his injuries. Probably hurts to stand here, the idiot.

"I just wanted you to know," he continues, voice rough. "I'll leave you alone now. For good."

The promise hangs between us—not just about tonight, but about everything. No more stalking. No more neat whiskies topour. No more saving my life from serial killers. No more earth-shattering sex dangling from a door frame.

Just... nothing.

"Wait," I finally manage, the word escaping before I can overthink it.

He freezes, key halfway to the car door.

"I didn't say anything yet." My voice sounds strange, hollow in the rain-soaked quiet.

"You didn't have to." His smile is so sad it makes my chest ache. "Your face said enough."

"My face is a lying bitch," I blurt out. "Don't listen to her."

He almost laughs, confusion replacing the defeat in his eyes.

I take a deep breath. "I don't know what to do with you, Dane Wolfe. You're a goddamn tornado in my life."

"I'm sorry?—"

"No, shut up. It's my turn." I step closer, rain pelting my shoulders. "You bulldozed your way into the bar, my life, my... everything. And I'm still processing the whole creepy surveillance shit. It's fucked up."

He nods, jaw tightening.

"But you also took three bullets for me. Nobody's ever..." I swallow hard. "You made me feel things I didn't think I could feel again. Safe. Seen." I hesitate, then add, "Whole."

His eyes lock on mine, that dangerous hope beginning to flicker back to life.

"I'm not saying I forgive you. But I'm not saying goodbye either." I shrug helplessly. "So maybe we could just... I don't know. Get coffee sometime. Like normal people do."

His eyes light up in a way I've never seen before. The hardness melts away, replaced by something so vulnerable. And just like that, I know I've made the right decision, even if my brain is still catching up with my heart.

He approaches me like I might bolt, which, fair enough, considering I nearly maced some poor library kid ten minutes ago. His hand lifts toward my face, then hovers there, uncertainty written all over him. This hesitation from a man who would die for me is somehow more intimate than anything we've done.

When his palm finally touches my cheek, it's warm against my rain-chilled skin. I should pull away. I should make him work harder for this. I should?—

Oh, screw it.

Dane leans forward, and his lips meet mine with a gentleness I didn't know he possessed. No demand, no possession, just a question. This isn't the Dane who handcuffed me and edged me. This is someone new.

"If you're planning to get shot again to win arguments," I murmur against his mouth, "I should warn you that's not a sustainable relationship strategy."

He laughs, a real laugh that crinkles the corners of his eyes. "Noted."