Aria.
I woke up to someone watching me.
I didn't open my eyes immediately. I lay still for a moment the way I had trained myself to over three years of sleeping light in a town where danger was never far away. Taking in the room first. The sounds.
The warmth.
Then I remembered where I was.
My eyes opened.
He was already awake, lying on his side facing me, watching me with the kind of patience that suggested he had been doing it for a while and had no immediate plans to stop. No expression on his face.
Just those eyes, steady and gold in the morning light, looking at me like I was something he had every right to look at.
I stared back at him for exactly two seconds.
Then the full weight of last night landed on me all at once.
The kiss. His arms. Falling asleep. Not leaving.
I sa
