Allyson's POV
The realization hit me like a freight train, leaving me breathless and mortified. I had just whispered those three devastating words to Michael Jade during the height of passion.
Damn it all to hell.
The confession had torn itself from my throat without permission, raw and honest in a way that terrified me. This couldn't be happening. Not now, not like this. It had to be the intensity of the moment, the way he'd shattered every defense I possessed. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
But even as I tried to convince myself otherwise, the truth burned in my chest like molten steel.
Did he catch those words? Was he storing them away, waiting for me to crack again?
Sweet mercy.
What if he expected me to repeat them now, to confirm what my traitorous heart had already revealed?
Absolutely not. I refused to give him that satisfaction.
