The night settled thick and heavy after Damien finally let me go.
He slept like a man who’d burned through every ounce of restraint.
I didn’t.
I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, replaying every second—
his grip,
his hunger,
the way he’d lost himself in me like he’d been starving.
And the way he looked afterwards, almost unsettled.
Men like Damien didn’t get rattled.
But I had rattled him.
Good.
By morning, the quiet felt different.
Not peaceful—
charged.
I stepped into the kitchen to find him already awake, sleeves rolled, coffee untouched, and phone on the table but ignored.
He looked up the moment I walked in.
His eyes dragged over me slowly, like he was remembering last night in detail.
“Morning,” I said casually.
He didn’t answer right away. He just studied me, inte
