He didn’t think about the cost. Not yet. Not when she was still trembling in his arms, her breath uneven, her lips swollen from his kisses. Not when she looked up at him with something raw in her gaze, something he should shut down.
Instead, he allowed her presence to linger, let her warmth settle into him, allowed her head to rest against his shoulder as if it belonged there. Instead, he felt the tempo of her breathing slow against his chest, as if they shared one heart, one rhythm, one life.
Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, threaded his fingers through her hair, cradling her closer, knowing he should stop, knowing he should pull away, but instead letting the pretense spin out like a fragile thread, like a story that had no ending, like a moment destined to break.
Instead, he
