POV: Violet
The first thing I noticed was the heat.
Ryan’s body was a furnace, his arms wrapped around me like he could physically anchor me to the world. For a few blissful seconds, I let myself drown in it the rhythm of his breathing, the steady beat of his heart under my cheek, the faint musk of rain and cedar clinging to his skin.
Five years.
Five years of silence, of wondering, of moving on with a smile that never reached my bones. Five years where I buried myself in work, in patients, in my mother’s stillness, just to keep from unraveling.
And now here he was, in my bed like he’d never left.
My hand trembled against his chest. “You can’t just show up like this, RayRay,” I whispered, because saying his nickname grounded me, softened the sharp ache in my chest. “You can’t vanish
