Page 210 of Only Be Mine

“No,” I said again, stronger now, fighting to control the tremor in my voice. “I’m overwhelmed. That’s not the same thing.”

Trevor’s jaw tightened. “You think I’m unstable,” he said.

I shook my head immediately. “No. I think this is a lot.”

“A lot,” he repeated flatly.

He paced once. Twice. His steps were controlled, but the energy underneath them was shifting. No longer perfectly contained.

“You don’t get to be afraid of me,” he said.

That chilled something deep in my spine.

“I gave you everything.”

I nodded quickly. “You did.”

“You live in this house because of me.”

“Yes.”

“You have stability because of me.”

“Yes.”

Each agreement steadied him.

Each agreement cost me something.

He stopped pacing and looked at me again.

“But you flinched,” he said.

The accusation was quiet.

I swallowed hard. “Trevor,” I said softly, stepping toward him this time, closing the space deliberately. “I just found out the man I was supposed to marry was killed. And that my husband did it.”

There it was.

Out loud.

Between us.

“Of course I’m shaken.”

The word was careful.

Not afraid.

Shaken.

Trevor’s breathing slowed again.

He studied me, recalibrating. “You don’t think I’d hurt you,” he said.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “I don’t believe you would.”

And that was the most dangerous lie I’d ever told.