He offered me stability. I want forever.

Iris

I have nothing left to lose.

No savings. No safety net. No one coming to rescue me.

Just a half-finished manuscript, eviction closing in, and a promise I made to myself years ago:

I will never settle.

Not for comfort.

Not for convenience.

And never for a love that doesn't burn bright enough to change everything.

Then Sergeant Phoenix Hastings steps into my life.

Steady. Dependable. Unshakable.

He offers me something I desperately need—security, stability… a future.

But what I see in the quiet way he shows up for me… the way he protects, provides, and stays… feels like something more.

Something he says he doesn't believe in.

I don't want safety alone.

I want love.

I want him.

And I'm willing to risk everything… because I believe his heart is already mine.

Phoenix

Love is easy to doubt when you've grown up seeing it as a masquerade.

Duty makes sense. Responsibility makes sense. Showing up, fixing problems, building a life—that all makes sense.

Feelings are another matter entirely.

Then Iris Matthews crashes into my world—all hope and fire and impossible dreams.

She believes in epic love. The kind that transforms everything it touches.

I tell myself I don't believe in that.

But I can't stop taking care of her.

Can't stop choosing her.

Can't stop planning a life that somehow always includes her.

When I ask her to marry me, I tell myself it's practical. Logical. Necessary.

But the truth is harder to admit—even to myself.

Because loving her—the very thing she wants most of all—is what I've always believed I'm incapable of.

I'm willing to give her everything—except the words she's waiting to hear.

An Army mechanic who shows love through action.

A dreamer who needs to hear the words.

When love is proven in a thousand quiet ways—but never spoken…how long can a heart wait to hear the words that matter most?