LIV’S POV
I didn’t realize I was crying until I felt the warm patch spreading over Kaelon’s shirt. My face was buried in his chest, my fists clenched at his sides like I was holding on for dear life.
His scent wrapped around me; clean, crisp, and familiar. It was stupid, how something as simple as a smell could undo me. But it did.
I jerked back like I’d been burned.
"I... I can't," I whispered, stumbling backward as I reached for the door. My heart thudded in my chest like a trapped bird, desperate and confused. Kaelon didn’t stop me, didn’t say a word as I slipped inside and shut the door between us. I rested my back against it, my breath coming in sharp, broken waves.
God, I had done it again.
I shut him out.
But this time… This time it felt different. The way he looked at me, t
