Page 103 of Fury

Hope had her heart racing.

Tell him! Tell him now.

Goosebumps formed on her arms. It was chilly out here.

“So.” He cleared his throat. “What brings you all the way here?” There was something in his tone that conveyed reservation. When he cast a look over at her, Hollyn noted a seriousness in his eyes that hadn’t been there earlier.

They stopped at the fence line of the outdoor training field, and Davis pulled a toy for Fury from his pocket. Chucked it hard. The German shepherd cleared the fence and tore off after the KONG.

Hollyn swallowed. It was now or never. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Okay, sure.” He nodded and faced her while Fury ran back their way. He skidded to a stop but didn’t relinquish the toy. “Af,” Davis commanded, glancing away for a second.

Fury lay down, panting around the slobbery toy in his mouth.

Having Davis’s full attention was more than a little unnerving. Hollyn worked a loose sliver of the fence between her fingers. “So.” She licked her lips. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to say for a while now, but it never felt like the right time with . . . just everything. I mean, you know. You were there.”

Rambling.

Davis just nodded, steady gaze pinning her.

Her heart was beating so fast, and her whole body felt flushed. “I don’t really know the best way to say this”—a concerned look drew his eyebrows together—“so I’ll just blurt it out. And don’t feel like you need to say anything right now. Just hear me out and think it over.”

Arms crossed, his broad shoulders rose in acknowledgment as he waited for her to continue.

“I love you.” The words hung between them for a moment before she forced herself to press on. “I’ve known for a while now. I mean, I thought I knew back in high school, but these last few weeks . . . well, what I feel for you now is so much deeper. You feel like home to me, and I love who you are.” She couldn’t read his expression. That worried her. “And I get it. You might not feel the same way, and that’s okay. You did leave, and maybe I’m projecting. Maybe you feel like we just got caught up in the chaos of the last couple of weeks and you need space. But I had to tell you how I feel, otherwise I’d always wonder what-if. I understand if this is just a one-sided thing but?—”

A small smirk spread across Davis’s lips as he lifted his hands to the sides of her face. She went still under his touch. “Do I get a chance to reply?”

His thumb brushed back and forth against her cheek, and all she could manage was a nod.

Yes. Please, put me out of my misery.

Hollyn drew in a breath, afraid to move. She searched his brown eyes. His nearness and the way he was so carefully cradling her face infused her soul with hope that he might feel the same way about her that she did for him. But was that too much to wish for?

“I love you too.”

The air whooshed from her lungs as she stood there, dumbfounded, afraid she might have misheard him. She tried to get her bearings. “You do?”

Was she dreaming this? She’d waited what felt like her whole life to hear him say exactly that, but it seemed too good to be true.

“I do.”

“But . . . you left.”

“Just to get Fury situated here,” Davis defended gently. “We talked about that.”

At the sound of his name, Hollyn saw Fury’s head pop up in her peripheral vision.

“I didn’t want to tell you I was in love with you and then get on a plane and leave you for weeks or maybe months.” He lowered his hands to her arms and down to thread his fingers with hers. “No matter how many ways I played it out in my head, it seemed like I was abandoning you.” Davis searched her eyes. “I’m sorry, Hol.”

Hollyn’s brain stalled around a few words of what he’d just said. “Say it again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No.” She grinned and wrapped her arms around his trim waist. “That you’re in love with me.”

Nothing else mattered to her in this moment except hearing him repeat that.

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