Page 225 of Iced Up Love: Part Two

Her gaze softens slightly.

“That I’m yours,” he adds quietly.

Silence lingers between them.

“I don’t want to push you,” he continues, softer now. “But I need this, Lia. I need people to know I’m not that guy anymore.”

She studies him for a moment, then nods slowly.

“Okay,” she says. “But small. I’m not ready for more than that.”

Relief moves through him immediately.

“Small,” he agrees. “Only what you’re comfortable with.”

I lean back slightly, watching it all settle.

“Then we do this properly,” I say. “We plan it. We control it.”

She nods as the conversation ends.

But the tension doesn’t. Because when she glances at me, I see it.

The distance.

The hesitation.

The space I put there.

I want to close it. I want to take it back. I want to remind her exactly who she is to me.

But I don’t move. Because I still don’t trust myself. Not yet. Not until this is finished.

And as the silence settles again, heavier now, one thought locks into place.

I need to end this.

All of it.

Because the longer I hold myself back, the more I risk losing her in a way I won’t be able to fix.

And I’m not going to let that happen.

forty-eight

Liana

The morning settles into something quieter after breakfast.

Not silent, not heavy, just… softer.

I can feel it in my body first.

That’s what strikes me the most.

Not the room. Not the conversation. Not even the men around me.

My body.