Cade:
She said it just tonight, as if it were a boundary. Like she could draw a line in the sand and somehow keep us both on the right side of it.
But the truth was—we were already across it.
Riley stood in my arms, small and steady against my chest, and every second I held her, I knew there wasn’t a single force in the world that could make me open the door and let her walk away.
Not tonight.
I guided her backward, slow, careful, until her knees brushed the edge of the mattress. She sat without me asking, her eyes locked on mine, wide and unflinching.
The room was dark, except for the pale strip of moonlight that leaked through the curtains. It traced across her cheekbones, glinted in her eyes, lit her up like she’d been made of something I could never deserve.
I crouched in front
