I could hear the truth of her feelings in the way she laughed, feel it in the way she touched me. See it in the way she lit up when she caught sight of me. It was the same fire that lit in me. But if I acknowledged it, if I said the words, I could lose her.

Never before had I been so unsure of where I stood with a woman. And never had I been so certain of where I wanted to stand.

Beside Tess.

Her throat worked down a lump. “I … I’m okay. I think.”

“Is Ivy all right? Did she … did she say something to upset you?”

She shook her head. “Just the truth.”

I felt my weight sink into my shoes. “Was it a good truth or a bad one?”

“I … both, I think.” She paused.

I didn’t speak. It was always me, making light. Changing the subject. Ignoring what was left unsaid to spare us both from having to answer to it. But not this time. It had to be her.

And she seemed to know it.

Her chin lifted, though her eyes were afraid. “What are we, Luke?”

The band on my lungs squeezed tighter. “What do you want us to be, Tess?”

“I’m afraid to say.”

“Because you think I’ll say no?”

“Because you might say yes.”

Hope zipped through me like a bottle rocket. I closed the space between us quietly, slowly. “What do you want, Tess?” I asked. “Tell me so I can give it to you.”

Her jaw fit in my palm, her eyes searching mine. “What if you can’t?”

“There’s nothing you could ask for that I couldn’t give.”

Her brows edged closer, though not in anger. In sadness.

“Do you trust me?” The question was gentle, still, pleading.

“I … I do.”

“Tell me what you want.” Loud was my pulse in my ears, and in the roar were the words I wanted to hear from her lips, seconds before she spoke them.

“You. But not just this, not just what we’ve had.”

A smile flickered on my lips as I did some quick math. “What we’ve had? Five hundred hours since the first night. Two hundred and fifty of those, I’ve spent with you. Know how many of those you’ve been in my arms? Twenty-one. Give or take.”

Her cheek rose against my thumb as she smiled.

“Tess, I know you don’t think much of me. I know you don’t think I can be what you need. And I plan on showing you every single way you’re wrong. All you have to do is let me.”

Another hard swallow as she looked up at me with pride and fear. “Why am I scared?”

“I don’t know. Because if you don’t think I’m serious about you, you haven’t been paying attention.”

A small, conceding laugh through her nose.

“Let me prove it,” I commanded. “I’m not asking you to promise anything. I don’t want anything to change. All I know is when I walk through that door, it’s your face I look for. Every night when we say goodbye, I don’t want to go. And I don’t know what that means besides this: I don’t want to be your fling, Tess.”