Rae's POV
The house felt like ours again.
Mom had been gone for three days, and every morning I woke up to the quiet realization that we had seven more full days-no footsteps in the hallway, no doors opening unexpectedly, no need to whisper or freeze mid-kiss. Just us.
Killian had been planning.
I could tell by the way his eyes darkened when he looked at me, by the small, private smile he gave me when I walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but his T-shirt.
He'd been researching, reading, asking me questions in low voices late at night: what I was curious about, what felt scary, what felt exciting. We'd talked boundaries until there were no more secrets left between us.
Tonight was the night he'd been waiting for.
He'd transformed the pool house while I was in the shower. When
