The drive to his estate was a blurred fever dream of city lights and the heavy, charged silence that followed an admission of desire. The air inside the car was dense and charged, vibrating with the tension of everything we had just done—and everything we were about to do.
Uriel kept one hand on the wheel, but his other found mine. He entwined our fingers, his grip firm as if he wanted to keep us tethered to the earth. Without taking his eyes off the road, he brought my hand to his lips. He kissed my knuckles one by one, his breath warm against my skin, before resting our joined hands on his thigh. The simple, possessive intimacy of the gesture made my heart swell until it ached.
In that quiet, shared space, I felt more cherished than ever before. I could hardly believe the campus’s most
