Louise
I walk back to the bed and sit on the edge, close enough that our knees brush. “You don’t have to tell me your secret just to be fair,” I say gently. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. If you think it’s something worth keeping, I completely understand.”
“I want to tell you,” Elias interrupts, his voice low and steady. His fingers slide from my hair down to my cheek, thumb brushing my cheekbone with the kind of tenderness that makes my heart squeeze. “I want you to know.”
“Okay,” I whisper, nodding as I catch his hand and lace our fingers together.
“I was serving when I met Ashley in a bar,” he begins. “She was beautiful, the bartender there. I fell for her the second I saw her. We spent one incredible night together, and then she agreed to be my girlfriend. I was over the
