Page 112 of Love Unscripted
She inhaled slowly. She’d dissected this for weeks. The truth was ugly and old. A childhood of covering for her father. Of watching her mother spin narratives to survive the industry. Deception was her reflex. When she got scared, she didn’t pray. She calculated.
Even now, she couldn’t hand him all of it. Not yet.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t understand why I accepted the role,” she said instead. “I didn’t trust that you’d hear me out.”
“You didn’t trust me,” he translated.
“I didn’t know you well enough to.” She held his gaze. “And I have issues with trust.”
He exhaled through his nose. “Given what you’ve lived with… I get it.”
“It’s not an excuse.”
“I wasn’t offering one.” There was an edge to his voice. Not cruel. Just wounded.
The weight of it settled on her chest. He still looked at her like she was a risk.
“I should go,” she said, turning away.
“Camille.” He reached for her hand.
The second his fingers wrapped around hers, she froze.
She had missed this. Missed him. His touch. The warmth she used to fall into without thinking.
“I miss you,” he said, and this time his voice broke.
The tears came before she could stop them.
He pulled her into him and she didn’t resist. She folded against his chest, gripping his shirt like she might drift away if she didn’t.
When he finally leaned back, he searched her face like he was memorizing it. He wiped her tears with the back of his thumb. Then he kissed her.
Soft. Careful.
Then less careful.
The restraint snapped and his mouth claimed hers with all the things he hadn’t said. She kissed him back just as fiercely—aching, desperate, terrified.
But beneath the longing was the question.
She pulled away, breath unsteady. “Have you forgiven me?”
He hesitated. Swallowed. “Sure.”
It was the wrong word. “Do you trust me?”
His hands slid from her waist.
“I’m trying to,” he said quietly. “I want to. But trust doesn’t come easily when it’s broken.”
She stepped back. “I see. You don’t trust me.”
“Camille—”
“I want to be with you,” she said, tears falling freely now. “But not like this. Not while you’re bracing for me to disappoint you. I want you to trust me. Fully.”
“And I want to trust you again,” he said. “But it’ll take time. Maybe we take it slow. Start over. Get to know each other properly.”
