Outside, the waves kissed the shore with the steady rhythm of breath—inhale, exhale, repeat. It was a sound that asked nothing of them. It just was. Like the hush of their hotel suite. Like the silence between two people who finally had nothing to prove, only things to feel.
Isabelle sat at the edge of the bed, brushing her fingers through her hair, still damp from the shower she’d taken earlier. She wore a long cotton nightgown—thin, simple, soft—but it clung in all the right places. The faint bump at her waist had become more visible lately, her body beginning to bloom again with life. She rested her hands there without thinking, the motion instinctive, protective.
When Sebastian stepped out of the bathroom, her breath caught.
He wore only grey sweatpants, the drawstring low on his hi
