Chapter 87

  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, the way his arms had wrapped around me like I was the most precious thing in his world, and the way he said it.   He loved me.   I sank to the carpet, pressing my fingers against my lips like