Page 115 of Nine Months to Love
She searches my face. “You really thought she’d hurt me?”
“I know she would. She’s dangerous. Unstable. And she blames you for...” I trail off.
“For what?”
“For the fact that I chose you over her.”
Olivia’s eyes go huge in the moonlight. “She wanted you.”
“She thought she did. But it wasn’t real. It wasn’t love. It’s not what we have.”
“And what we have is love?”
I could deflect. Make a joke. Change the subject. Pretend I’m suddenly deaf. Instead, I tell her the truth. “Yes. That’s exactly what it is.”
Her breath catches. “Stefan?—”
“I love you, Olivia Aster,” I say. “I’ve never said that to anyone before. Never felt it, if we’re being honest. But I feel it with you. And it scares the hell out of me.”
Tears spill unchecked down her cheeks now. “I’m scared, too. I just love you so much and I need you so much, and if something happened to you, if I lost you, I… I… I…”
I pull her into my arms. She comes willingly, burying her face in my chest. “You’re not going to lose me,” I murmur against her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes, I can.” I tilt her face up to mine. “I love you, Olivia. And I’m going to spend every day proving it to you.”
She kisses me then. It’s soft and sweet and tastes like tears. “I love you, too.”
The moon climbs higher. The night grows colder. But neither of us suggests leaving.
“What happens now?” Olivia asks eventually.
“Now, we go home.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
She laughs softly. “You make it sound so simple.”
“It is simple. Everything else is just noise.”
“What about Mikayla? What about your mother? What about all the people who want to hurt you?”
“I’ll handle it.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll handle all of it. You just focus on taking care of yourself and our baby.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Life’s not fair,lisichka. But we make the best of what we have.”
She nestles closer. “I like it when you call me that.”
“Little fox?”
“Yeah. It makes me feel special.”
“Youarespecial. You’re everything to me.”
