He cupped her face, his eyes searing into hers. “Your hand. Your face. Your eyes. I wanted you from the moment that I first saw you, and I was willing to love you in the way that I could, in the way that you could take, in the way that it could be for all that time, but it’s over now. The time for waiting. The time for holding back.”

“I think that you believe that. I really do. But I don’t think it’s true. I think there’s more at play here than that. And I just... It’s not the life I want.” She sucked in a sharp breath, and she prepared to do one thing that she had never done to him before.

“Why?”

“I never wanted love. I didn’t ask for it. Don’t keep me caged. You know I can’t stand that.”

He nodded once. “Sure. But I need you to know something. I’m not your father. And if you look at me and ask me for love, you won’t get my fist. You’ll just get my heart.”

“I know that,” she said. “Don’t you think I know it? And it doesn’t make this any easier. But I won’t live a life that I don’t want. I was born into one. I’ll never stay in one. Our child deserves more than that.”

Those last words burned. Because she was lying. And using the baby along with it. And he might not thank her now. He might hate her now. But he would’ve only hated her later. And that... That would have been unendurable.

The cost.

The cost of waiting for a punch—not to her face—but to her soul. That was the one thing she couldn’t fathom.

To take away all her protective layers and to be destroyed later. When her walls were down.

By the one person that she wanted to trust. That she wanted. More than anything.

“I think that later you’ll understand,” she said. “I’m protecting us.”

“I’ve walked away from you a number of times,” he said. “The time I first tasted you in the camper. After the first time we had sex, I let you walk away. And I didn’t say anything. I’m not going to walk away now. And I’m not going to let you walk away without hearing this. You’re running scared, baby. I know you. Nobody else knows you the way that I do. And I can see it. And that’s why you’re running. Because you’re scared of something. You let me rescue you once. You let me fight for you. Let me fight for you now. Trust me.”

“You’re right. You did rescue me. And you’ve done it a hell of a lot more than once. I can’t rely on you to do that forever. I have to go out and figure out how to rescue myself. Otherwise... If I lose you I’ll be left with nothing. I’ll be nothing more than a sad, spineless... I’ll be my mother. I can’t. For our baby I can’t.”