KENDRA
I woke with my cheek pressed against Pascal’s chest and the quiet rise and fall of his breathing beneath my ear. The morning light slipped through the curtains in faint golden ribbons, warming the sheets, warming him, warming me.
His arm tightened subtly around me, fingers tracing lazy circles against my shoulder as if he knew I was awake before I even moved.
“You’re thinking loudly,” he murmured, voice still husky from sleep.
“I’m not,” I whispered back.
“You are.” He shifted slightly so he could see my face. “Tell me.”
I hesitated, not because I didn’t want to, but because I did. Because closeness was easier when neither of us acknowledged it out loud. But last night… last night changed something. Not in a dramatic, fiery way. It was softer than that. It was real.
“I was th
