Blake’s POV
The fire sputtered, tiny tongues of flame reaching upward, casting flickering shadows across the hut’s rough wooden walls. I had piled on whatever dry wood I could find, but it was still barely enough to warm the space. Aloe’s shivers hadn’t completely stopped, and each time she moved, I felt the cold bite at my own skin through the thin fabric of my jacket.
I shifted closer, letting her lean against me again, her head pressing into my chest. There was no room for embarrassment here, no time for pretenses. We were soaked, exhausted, and alone in a hut in the middle of a storm-soaked brush, and yet somehow, being this close felt… necessary.
“Do you think it’ll last?” she murmured, her voice almost swallowed by the crackle of the fire. I glanced down at her, noticing how her
