Love Me Back (Amelia and Daniel) novel Chapter 192

Daniel set down the cake knife and turned away, but Amelia caught his arm.

“Are you leaving?”

His jaw tightened. “No. I just need to return a call.”

“No, you don’t!” Amelia blurted out.

She never acted like this.

To her, love couldn’t be forced. If someone cared, they’d come for you no matter what. If they didn’t, all the begging in the world wouldn’t hold their heart in place.

So she’d never tried to keep him before.

Maybe her constant “understanding” had led Daniel to assume she could swallow any disappointment, accept any slight.

But this was their last day. She didn’t want to be the understanding one anymore. She didn’t have to be. Tonight, she wanted to make a scene.

“Daniel, you said you wanted to spend your birthday with just me. Can’t we have a day that’s truly ours?”

He stood with his back to her, the lamplight glancing off his black shirt, its sheen cold and distant.

For a moment, the room went silent. The spark in Amelia’s eyes flickered out, leaving them dull and bleak.

She let him go, retreating just as she had so many times before. “Go ahead and take your call.”

It’s not like they’d see each other again. Why cling to these last few hours?

Daniel paused, then turned back to her. He reached out, pinching her nose in that careless, teasing way of his. “Fine. I’ll listen to you. No calls tonight. Don’t be mad.”

Amelia couldn’t bring herself to smile.

He might be here, but his heart was somewhere far away. Those few seconds he hesitated had told her everything.

She scooped up a dollop of frosting with her finger and smeared it across his face.

Daniel grabbed a napkin to wipe it off, then gestured at her phone. “Put yours on silent too. Tonight, it’s just us.”

He kissed her before she’d even finished her cake.

He brushed the frosting from the corner of her mouth with his lips, the sweetness lingering on his tongue.

Amelia found herself pressed against the wall as his kisses trailed down her neck, each one delicate and slow.

Desire flared between them.

His hand slid under the hem of her shirt, and suddenly—snap!—the lights went out.

Daniel froze, his eyes still adjusting to the pitch black, when Amelia’s voice floated to him: “Daniel, let’s play a game.”

Silence answered him.

He knew the house like the back of his hand. He didn’t turn the lights on, moving like a hunter in the half-light spilling through the windows.

But no matter how long he searched, Amelia was nowhere to be found.

“Amelia?”

Maybe it was too quiet—so quiet it unsettled him.

Daniel stopped in the center of the living room, suddenly adrift, as if he’d lost his way in the desert.

At some point, one of the windows had swung open. Cold air swept in, tugging at his shirt collar, raising goosebumps on his skin.

The silence pressed in like a tide, a chill seizing his heart in an invisible grip, anxiety spreading through every nerve.

He raised his voice, the words trembling with fear. “I give up. The game’s over, okay?”

“Amelia?”

“Amelia!”

“I said I’m done! Please—come out!”