Chapter 76

RAINA

He’s said it a few times now. Those three little words that carried so much weight they left me breathless. I love you.

Why did he keep saying it so casually, like it wasn’t a big deal? Like it wasn’t carving through the walls I’d spent years building around my heart?

“Snap out of it,” I muttered to myself, but the words did nothing to stop the memories from crashing in.

My reflection in the dressing mirror stared back at me, flushed and conflicted. No matter how much I tried to focus on something else, my mind dragged me back to that night. The night I’d been trying—and failing—not to think about.

Who was I kidding?

His kiss still lingered on my lips, his touch still burned on my skin, and the way he looked at me made me feel like the only woman in the world. For one night, he wasn’t the man who had broken me. He was the man who had loved me once—the man I thought I’d lost forever.

I didn’t regret it. Not one bit.

But the fear…