Sleep was a stranger these days.
Adrian lay rigid beside Olivia, the lavender-scented sheets tangled around their legs. He stared at the pale ceiling, counting the cracks in the old plaster, while her breathing slowed into a gentle rhythm. Through the narrow gap in the curtains, a lone streetlamp cast a buttery glow across her face, tracing the curve of her cheek and the line of her eyelashes. In the soft lamplight, her features looked almost serene—eyes relaxed, lips slightly parted, a single dark curl brushing her forehead.
He reached out and tucked that strand of hair behind her ear. She sighed in her sleep, her fingers tightening around his shirt as though she needed to anchor herself to him even in dreams. He pressed his palm to her back, careful not to wake her, and felt the rise a
