CADEN
The memory of Ella's lips haunted me.
I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the events of last night playing on an endless loop in my mind. The way she had moved during our sparring match was graceful and fierce.
The weight of her body beneath mine when we fell. The moment our eyes locked and something shifted between us, and then the kiss.
My insides fluttered at the mere thought of it, a sensation so foreign that I almost didn't recognize it for what it was. Butterflies. I had butterflies. Like some lovesick teenager in a bad romance movie.
The comparison should have annoyed me. Instead, it made me smile.
Ella had kissed me back.
For one perfect crystalline moment, she had surrendered to the bond between us. Her hands had found my hair, pulling me closer.
Her lips had part
