Page 162 of King of Sin
For a second, he thought he had heard her wrong.
"What?"
"Tell me that you love me."
Juliet repeated it without the slightest hesitation, her tone casual and matter-of-fact, as though she were asking him to bring home groceries on the way back.
Chapter 21 Stop Talking Dirty
Cassian went completely still.
The office around him seemed to fade into the background as those words settled over him. His gaze lowered to the desk in front of him, and his thumb brushed unconsciously across his lower lip. For perhaps the first time in years, the usually composed and untouchable Cassian Han looked genuinely flustered.
The request itself wasn't difficult.
Three simple words.
Three words people said every day.
Yet for him, those words felt far more intimate than they should have. It wasn't because he didn't feel them. If anything, he felt them too much. The problem was that saying them aloud felt strangely vulnerable, as though she were asking him to pry open a door he had kept locked for years and reveal everything hidden behind it.
His jaw tightened slightly.
A faint flush crept up the back of his neck.
"Juliet, let me come home first."
His voice dropped lower, rougher than before, and he loosened his tie with one hand as though the knot had suddenly become too tight around his throat.
But Juliet clearly had no intention of letting him escape.
"If you don't say it, then how will I know that you love me?"
The playful teasing in her voice softened, giving way to something more earnest.
"You've never confessed to me."
Cassian closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
On the other end of the line, Juliet remained quiet for a moment before continuing, her voice softer now, almost vulnerable.
"Are you planning to spend our entire lifetime like this? If you never confess, how will I know that you are in love with me? Unless you say it, how will I know that you love me?"
His grip on the phone tightened.
Juliet's patience finally snapped.
"Cassian!"
The way she called his name—half frustrated, half demanding—broke through the last of his resistance.
Something inside him simply gave way.
Before he could overthink it, before he could talk himself out of it, the words left his mouth.
"I love you."
His voice came out low and rough.
