Like he needed to hear that.
His thumb brushes lightly against my hand.
Slow.
Intentional.
“You sure?” he asks.
It’s not teasing.
Not light.
It’s real.
Because he knows what this means.
What his life is.
What comes with him.
I hold his gaze.
And don’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
The word is quiet.
But it lands hard.
Because I mean it.
All of it.
The danger.
The uncertainty.
The fact that he will walk back into situations like that again—
Without hesitation.
I understand it now.
And somehow—
That doesn’t push me away.
It pulls me closer.
His jaw tightens slightly.
Like he’s holding something back.
Something big.
“You say that now,” he murmurs.
