Page 113 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

He looks up with a pained stare as he notices me. ‘Hollyn.’ His voice drips with relief.

Mercy steps out, holding the door. I don’t move, my feet apparently glued to the floor, so he jumps in and hits all the buttons on the panel.

‘Hols,’ he says when the doors close. ‘I’msosorry you saw that. I stopped her immediately.’ He takes the step to me, hesitantly touching my hand.

‘I love you, Hollyn. You have to know I’d never hurt you.’

All the feelings racing through me surface at once into a panicky relieved sob. Dax doesn’t waste a second, wrapping his arms around me, holding me tighter than he ever has.

‘I’m sorry,’ I cry into his chest. ‘I just—’

‘No,’ he says. ‘You’ve got nothing to apologize for.Ido. I handled the situation terribly. I thought if I blew Celeste off, she’d go away. That was wrong, and I’m sorry.’ He moves a hand to my neck, the pad of his thumb grazing over my skin as he stares into my eyes.

‘I know trusting me won’t come easily for you. I’ll be patient, I promise. I just need you to know I’ll never do what he did to you.Ever.’ He kisses my forehead gently. ‘There will never be another woman because I’ve only ever wanted you.’

The door dings open on floor three. Dax turns, slamming the door closed button, leaving a man looking confused in the hall.

‘Kind of in the middle of something,’ Dax tells him somewhat apologetically. ‘Wait for the next.’

‘Dax.’

He turns to me, worry still in his eyes.

‘I’m in love with you.’

A grin grows on his face.

‘But I’m scared. I’m coming out of what I now see as an emotionally traumatizing relationship. Yet somehow, from the moment you picked me up at the airport, I’ve fallen headfirst into you.’

‘What did you say?’

I look around the elevator. ‘I’m scared?’

‘Before that.’

‘I said, I’m in love with you.’ I repeat the words he clearly needs to hear again. ‘I’m in love with you, and it feels nothing like I thought it did.’

A weird half laugh, half relieved sigh leaves his lips as he kisses me gently. ‘I love you, Hols. I’ve never said that to anyone else. Only you.’

‘Really?’

‘Really. I’m a little scared too. I’ve never done any of this before. Relationships have never been my thing, as I’ve pined over the same girl my whole life. I lost her once, and today I almost lost her again. And in all the confusion I realize she’s everything to me.You’reeverything to me, Hollyn.’

I can tell he means every sweet word and I am speechless so I nod like some wordless loser in love.

He presses his lips to mine, an arm around my waist. I’ve never cried through a kiss that makes my insides burn like a campfire, but apparently, it leads to the frantic we-need-to-fix-it-now-before-these-doors-open elevator kiss you only see in the movies.

After a moment, he pulls away, laughing to himself as he points to the elevator ceiling above us, leaning his head against mine. One of my mom’s most famous ballads, now considered elevator music, plays softly through the speakers.

‘Nevertell her,’ I say.

‘I promise.’ He holds me tight. ‘I thought I’d lost you. I’ve never been so scared, Hols.’

‘I felt like I was dying,’ I say, my arms around his neck. ‘And only a small part of that was from the panic attack.’

Mercy’s right. He’s not comparable to Tristan in any way. Dax is a good man. I believe him when he says he’d never hurt me. I’d be an idiot not to throw myself at him. He makes me happy in a way no one else ever has.

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