Page 170 of At First Catch

His eyes finally meet mine.

“Us.”

The word lands between us.

“I’m trying to protect us.”

“By shutting me out?”

“By making sure I don’t lose this before I’ve even figured out how to keep it.”

My anger dissolves around the edges, but it doesn’t disappear.

“Nolan, you don’t protect a relationship by deciding for both people how much they can handle.”

He flinches.

“You let me decide what I’m willing to risk.”

“And if it’s too much?”

“Then we figure that out together.”

His gaze drops between us.

“I’m not very good at together.”

I step closer.

“Maybe stop trying to be good at it before you’ve even practiced.”

For one suspended second, I think he’s going to retreat again.

Deflect.

Minimize.

Tell me everything’s fine.

Instead, his hands tighten against my waist.

“I mean,” he says, “I spent most of my life surviving by depending on absolutely nobody.” His voice roughens. “Now suddenly there’s a town and a marina and you, and if I fail…” He exhales sharply. “I don’t know how to survive losing all of it.”

I stare up at the man I love, looking more emotionally exposed than I’ve seen him in weeks, and I understand something alarming. Nolan genuinely believes loving deeply is dangerous because loss feels inevitable to him.

I slide both hands up his chest until they rest against his jaw. Warm skin. Faint scruff. Tension everywhere.

“Nolan.”

In a flash, his eyes were back on me. That openness he only gives me when he’s scared enough to stop pretending.

“You are not failing,” I say.

A humorless laugh slips from him.

“Hads, I’m getting pressure from every direction right now.”

I study him carefully.