Page 140 of Let Me In

Still made him afraid.

“You’re my smart girl,” he murmurs. “My brave girl.”

His hand rubs slow over my back, steady and sure. Like he’s grounding both of us in the moment, in the quiet aftermath. Emmy feels the warmth of it echo down her spine, a silent reminder of his presence, of how deliberately he chooses to stay.

“But baby… You can’t risk yourself like that again.”

The words don’t come with heat. They come with ache.

Like the thought of losing me still lives just under his skin.

“You can’t,” he says again. “Not for me. Not for anyone.”

I nod. Barely.

But he feels it. And he keeps holding me like that.

Wrapped in his arms. In his strength. In his love, even if we haven’t named it yet.

“I’ve only just got you, little one,” he breathes.

And that’s when the last of the fight in me slips away. Because I feel it now.

Not the punishment.

The keeping.

The fire’s burned low.

Just embers now, casting soft orange across the floorboards. Cal’s arms are still around me, his chest rising and falling slow and steady beneath my cheek.

I feel him everywhere.

In the quiet.

In the safety.

In the steadiness I’ve never had before.

And maybe it’s the silence that gives me the courage. Maybe it’s how held I feel, even after everything.

But the words stir up from somewhere deep.

“Cal?”

“Yeah, baby.” His voice is low. Rough with tenderness.

I hesitate. My fingers tighten slightly in the fabric of his shirt.

“I’ve read… books.”

He doesn’t say anything at first.

Just waits. Present. Patient. Safe.

“I mean, about this,” I murmur. “Not exactly like this, but… close.”

He shifts slightly, just enough to press his cheek to the crown of my head. He’s listening.

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