Page 205 of Faking Cinderella
We tumble out the front door, where the security agents who weren’t inside to help my father are all reconverging after clearly getting their attention split.
They look at me, concern fading to worry as they spot Daphne too.
She finger-waves at them.
The door to a black SUV opens at the curb, and our brothers hustle me inside.
I freeze halfway up.
“Rhys,” I breathe.
“God, you’re fucking beautiful,” he breathes back.
I tumble the rest of the way into the seat, and the door closes behind me, leaving Daph and our brothers on the street.
“They’re taking the other car,” my driver says as we pull away from the curb.
I blink at Rhys.
Open my mouth.
Try to talk, but I can’t because my throat is clogged and I don’t even know what to say.
His hand closes around mine. “You don’t abandon the people you love just because you’re scared.”
“I know.I know. I’m sorry?—”
“No, no, Skillet.I’mscared. You fucking terrify me. But I get it. I know why you’re scared too. And I—I want to be beside you while we both face our fears. Stronger together. Better together. You make me—you brought me back to life, and you make me want to live. So I want to do the same for you. However you need.”
I don’t have the words for what I need.
But I have arms that work to wrap around his neck.
A body that works to scoot as close to him as humanly possible.
A nose that can smell his tobacco-and-pine scent.
Fingers that can grip his hair and hold him close when he sucks in a fast breath as he buries his head in my neck.
“I’m so sorry.” My voice breaks as a sob slips out. “I don’t—I’m so afraid—you deserve—I want—I wantyou.”
“I love you,” he whispers. “I love you, and I won’t give up on you.”
Love.
Yes,love.
Not friend-love.
Not settling-love.
Bigger-than-me, bigger-than-him, bigger-than-the-world love.
The kind that makes it hard to breathe when he’s not with me, and the kind that’s so big inside that I don’t know how my chest isn’t cracking open with all the power of it that wants to spill out.
“I can’t love you as big as you know how to love,” I whisper into his neck, “but I want to.God, I want to learn—to practice—loving you.”
“I can’t live as big as you know how to live,” he whispers back. “I want to practice living with you.”
