The alarm blared, signaling the start of another day, and I reached over to my nightstand to turn it off, my arm moving sluggishly as I struggled to wriggle free from Joshua's unyielding grip. His arms were wrapped around me tightly, his strong chest warm against my back, radiating a comforting heat that made it difficult to pull away. Mornings like this were hard to resist—the safety of his arms, the gentle rise and fall of his breathing. There was a steady, grounding comfort in waking up like this.
As usual, Joshua barely stirred, his grip tightening instinctively, pulling me closer as if I were a part of him he didn't want to lose, even in sleep. It would take a nuclear disaster to wake him up at this hour. And as always, our closeness brought me face-to-face—well, back-to-face—with th
