Kris woke slowly, as if surfacing through warm water. For a few heartbeats, she didn’t know where she was, only that heat surrounded her, steady and unfamiliar, and her body felt… awake. Not aroused in any sharp way, but humming, like her nerves remembered something her mind hadn’t caught up to yet. Aaron. The name settled her.
She lay still, eyes closed, cataloging sensations the way she always did when she was off-balance. The firm mattress beneath her. The faint vibration of the tower through the walls. The smell of him, clean skin, soap, and something uniquely Aaron that tugged at her instincts without demanding anything in return.
And beneath it all, the echo of Win. His praise lingered like a phantom touch. She swallowed, embarrassed all over again that kneeling had made her feel
