He moved one hand to the curve of her neck while gripping her lower back and crushing their bodies together. “I do care,” he whispered in a pained voice. “I want you, Cerise, more than I’ve let myself want anything in a long time. Then I imagined spending eternity here, missing you, tortured by the memory of you. I thought it would be worse to have you and lose you than to never have you at all. But now look. I’ve lost you, and it hurts so badly I can’t stand it.”
