The morning crept into the room like a reluctant lover—pale light filtering through threadbare curtains, painting ghostly patterns across tangled sheets. Christian awakened first, his senses instantly registering Daisy's warmth pressed against him, her breath feathering across his skin in delicate, rhythmic whispers. Her hair cascaded across the pillow in a crimson tide—untamed wildfire against white linen, impossibly soft where tendrils brushed his arm. She shifted in sleep, one bare leg sliding between his, her body instinctively seeking his heat beneath the gossamer barrier of the sheet. Her scent enveloped him—wildflowers after rain, sun-warmed earth, and something primally, uniquely *her* that tightened his chest with an exquisite ache.
He remained motionless, savoring the forbidden
