Chapter Thirty-One
Lucas
That night with Valentina was a strange type of hell. I barely slept. I had my alarm set, but it was entirely unnecessary. As the doctor ordered, I woke Valentina every other hour. She reliably woke up, and I felt like I could finally relax as dawn approached.
One thing crystallized in my mind during the night—how I felt about her. I didn’t quite know how it happened, but I suspected it was because I truly hadn’t expected it. Valentina had slipped into my heart, curling around it effortlessly and pulling me straight into love. Perhaps because it was so easy to be with her.
She was so open and so honest, a rare combination of innocent and wise. While I’d thought no one could ever be in my heart again, Valentina shredded that belief with nothing more than a look.
