““You don’t know?” he whispered harshly. “You truly don’t know that you mean everything to me?” Hardly daring to believe her ears, Mia pushed at his chest to put a little distance between them so she could look up at his face. “I do?” “Of course, you do.” His gaze burned into her with an intensity she had never seen before. “How could you doubt it?” “Are . . . are you saying you love me?” she asked tremulously, afraid to even voice such a possibility. What if he said no? What if she’d misunderstood him, and he would now laugh at her silliness? Her chest tightened in anxious anticipation. “Mia, I love you more than life itself,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “If anything happened to you . . . If you were gone, I would not want to go on living. Do you understand me?””
![“Korum couldn't understand [Connor's] placidity. If Mia had blushed at the touch of another man, that man's lifespan would've been numbered in minutes.” quote by Anna Zaires](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/74b/anna-zaires-15993_another-man_korum-couldn-t-understand-connor-s-placi_149944.jpg)
