Page 102 of Most Likely to Fear Love

Cassidy:Okay

One word. Four letters. And suddenly, everything balanced on a knife’s edge.

I stood, my body humming with nervous energy. This was my one shot. My last roll of the dice. If it failed, I had no other moves. I felt my chances were fifty/fifty and although I’d left my gambling days far behind me, I didn’t like those odds.

CASSIDY

Ichecked my reflection in the hallway mirror for the third time in as many minutes, adjusting a stray lock of hair and smoothing down my shirt. The woman staring back at me looked exactly the same as she had yesterday when I’d gotten my period, and the day before that. No visible signs of disappointment, no obvious marks of failure.

The strangest part was how okay I felt about not being pregnant. When I’d first seen the blood, I’d braced myself for devastation that never came. Instead, I felt... different. Like maybe the baby-shaped hole in my life wasn’t actually baby-shaped at all.

Harle was on his way over, probably expecting to find me in pieces. My heart beat faster at the thought of seeing him, and I wasn’t entirely sure if it was excitement or nerves. Maybe both. Those ten days with him had shifted something fundamental inside me, turned all my carefully laid plans into question marks.

“Fucking hell.” I scrubbed my hands over my face, turning away from the mirror. The truth was, without the baby plan between us like a shield, I had no idea how to face him. Or howto face the way he made me feel. Or even how to understand the way he made me feel.

The sound of his truck pulling into the drive sent my pulse skittering. I walked to the front door, watching as he climbed down from the cab. His eyes met mine as he walked up the drive, and something in his expression made my stomach clench. He looked... guarded. That wasn’t like him at all.

I swallowed hard, trying to calm my racing heart, and gave him a small smile as he approached.

“Hey.” My voice was carefully neutral.

“Hey.” His gaze was hooded, unreadable in a way that made my stomach twist. Then his expression softened as he stopped in front of me, his eyes searching mine. “You okay?”

I nodded, though I wasn’t entirely sure if it was true. “Yeah. I think so.” I stepped back, opening the door wider to let him in. He hesitated for a moment, and that hesitation felt like a physical ache in my chest. This wasn’t us. We didn’t do awkward pauses and careful distances. The easy warmth between us had been replaced by something heavier, more charged.

He finally stepped inside, his presence filling the space the way it always did.

“I’m glad you let me come over.” His voice was low, intimate in a way that made my skin tingle.

But there was something about the look in his eyes that made my chest ache. “Me too.”

Without another word, he reached for me, his hands gentle as they wrapped around my upper arms. I stiffened for a second, caught off guard, but then melted against him, unable to resist the magnetic pull between us. His arms closed around me, and I let out a shaky breath, letting his familiar warmth seep into my bones.

Finally, I pulled back. “Would you like some coffee?”

“That’d be great.”

I led the way to the kitchen, feeling his presence just a step behind me. As I opened the cupboard to pull out two mugs, I could feel his eyes on me, making the back of my neck prickle. Not in a bad way. It was just... awareness. There was something unspoken in the air, something that neither of us was ready to touch yet.

The coffee machine hummed to life, filling the silence between us. I set the mugs up and pressed the button. When I turned around, Harle was leaning against the doorframe, tension visible in every line of his body. He was holding an envelope, turning it over and over in his hands.

“Cassidy.” His voice was rough. “I need to say something, and I need you to just listen. Okay?”

My stomach dropped. “Harle?—”

“Please.” He pushed off from the doorframe, closing the distance between us. “I know what happened with Brian. I know how badly he hurt you, how he made you doubt everything.” His jaw tightened. “And I never want you to feel that kind of pain again.”

I gripped the counter behind me, needing the support. “What are you saying?”

He held out the envelope.

I took it from him. “What is this?”

“This is money. Enough to hire the best private investigator in the state.” His eyes were intense and vulnerable all at once. “I want you to look into me. My past, my present, everything. Because I need you to know that I’m not him. That I will never be him.”

My hand trembled as I set the envelope on the counter, my throat tightening. “Harle, it’s not you I don’t trust. It’s me.” I dragged in a shaky breath, trying to keep my voice steady. “I’m the one who made the mistake before. I’m the one who let someone like Brian into my life. Who let him break me down tothe point that I...” My voice cracked, and I had to look away. “I don’t trust myself to make the right decision again. That’s what I’m scared of.”

The silence that followed was heavy, the kind that stretched on forever, making the air feel too thick. When Harle finally spoke, his voice was so quiet I almost missed it. “Cassidy...”

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