I didn’t know what it was that woke me.
A sound maybe. Or a shift in the air. Or that strange, thin silence that comes just before the world starts breathing again.
My eyes fluttered open to fading gold light, the kind that slips through tree branches like it’s trying not to wake anyone. My head felt heavy, comfortable, warm, and it took a second to realize where I was. My cheek was resting on something soft, rhythmic. Not grass. Not a blanket.
Taylor.
My head was in his lap.
His hand hovered just above my face, as though he’d been tracing the air between us. When our eyes met, he froze for half a second before grinning, the kind of grin that didn’t need words to say I’ve been caught.
“You look pretty when you sleep,” he said, his voice quiet, teasing but with a softness underneath t
