Victoria’s POV
I felt like I was losing my mind in the middle of Carlisle’s constant shifts between warmth and cold distance. One moment he was distant and unreadable, and the next he was right here, overwhelming me completely. My heart struggled to keep up with him, with the way he pulled me in only to confuse me again. My thoughts were no better. They tangled over themselves as I tried to understand what he really wanted from me, and every attempt only made things more complicated.
And yet, despite everything, this was the first time since he came back that he truly saw me. Really saw me. He stayed this time. He touched me without anger behind it, without that sharp edge I had grown used to. There was something else in it now. Something deeper. Something that felt raw and consuming in
