“It was fine. He wanted me to make him feel better about this whole thing, and I refused.”

“Attagirl,” he said, that corner of his lips ticking up again.

“But Natasha saw and cornered me. Or blockaded me. She threatened my job, pressed my bruises. She wants to hurt me. In fact, I think she’s planning to make a career out of it.”

“Can’t imagine there’d be much money in it.”

I wished I could laugh.

“Do you think she’s just doing it for the cameras?”

“Maybe.”

He paused, seeming unnerved by my silence. “What did she say?”

“That … that I didn’t care about anyone but myself. That Brock was right—I’m emotionless, heartless. Passionless. Maybe they’re right.” Anything else I might have said jammed in my throat, squeezed tight with emotion.

“They’re not.” Kash cupped my face, held it delicately in his wide palm, tilted it up to his. “Do you hear me? They’re wrong. You care more than anyone I’ve ever known, and I’m a Bennet.”

The smallest of laughs eased my heart.

“I mean it,” he insisted with quiet demand. “I have seen your passion, and it has left me changed.”

I stared up at him, at the fervency in his face and the honesty of his words. “Kash …”

“They want to hurt you, Natasha strictly for sport. Don’t let them. Don’t give them that. Because they are wrong about you. Trust me when I promise you that.”

“I do,” I said, believing him with my whole heart.

A soft, sweet smile brushed his lips. “I also promised I’d make you forget him, and I don’t break my promises.”

“It worked,” I admitted with reckless courage. “It worked too well.”

He stilled.

For a protracted moment, we hung in that limbo, watching each other as we stood at the edge I’d been so afraid of for so long. And there was nothing left to do, no ground left to rely on.

It was time to jump.

“Kash, nothing about this feels like a rebound. This isn’t a fling, not for me. I don’t know when it happened, when things changed. Maybe it was there from the start. Maybe I’ve just been too afraid to admit it.”

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t ever be afraid, not of me.”

“No, never of you. Afraid of losing you.” I swallowed a dry knot, meeting his gaze with all the strength I had in me. “I understand this isn’t what you proposed. You said the only risk was to the reboundee, but it’s not. You’ve told me time and again that this is a distraction, nothing more. So I understand if you say no, but I need to know. If I asked you for more, would you give it?”