AVELA’S POV
I didn’t know what possessed me.
Maybe it was the way he looked at me.
Maybe it was the warmth of the kitchen.
Maybe it was the realization that for the first time in a long time, a man wasn’t lying to me.
Or maybe it was just him.
Lucas.
Standing half-naked in my kitchen with that smirk like he owned oxygen.
Whatever the reason, my hand reached for the knot of his apron.
And I pulled.
The apron slipped off him and fell to the floor in a soft whisper.
I froze.
He just stood there—broad, warm, sculpted—letting me stare, letting me breathe in every inch of him like he had all the patience in the world.
Like he’d been waiting for me to look at him like this.
My fingers lifted before I could stop them.
And then… I touched him.
His chest was firm and hot under my pal
