It was steady.
So steady.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
I felt it in my knees. My ribs. My whole fucking body.
No one had ever held me like this before.
And God, I didn’t know how to survive it.
CHAPTER 51
Iwoke up on his chest.
His skin was warm beneath my cheek, sun-kissed and smooth, the steady thump of his heartbeat anchoring me in the moment like nothing ever had.
Ansel.
His arm was around me, hand splayed between my shoulder blades, as though even in sleep, he didn’t want to let me go. I breathed in slowly, chest rising with his. We fit like that — easy, quiet, like we’d been doing this for years.
I didn’t move.
Didn’tdare.
Not because I feared waking him. But because I didn’t want to break the spell. The sunlight leaking through the window painted the room gold. His shirt still clung to my body — oversized, warm from his skin. My thighs still ached faintly from being held apart. From the way he’d worshipped me.
Everything inside me felt… soft.
Like I’d come apart and been pieced back together with silkand starlight and the kind of care that wasn’t supposed to exist in real life.
And then?—
The tears came.
Just a few at first. Barely there wetness in the corners of my eyes. But I couldn’t stop them.
Because I’dneverfelt this safe. Because no one had ever touched me like I was precious. No one had held me like I wastheirs.Even as a married woman, with the same man for almost a decade — I’d never known a feeling of safety quite like this.
And because for the first time in what felt like a thousand years, I didn’t feel hollow.
I feltfull.
Whole.
Wanted.
“Hey — hey,” Ansel’s voice was suddenly there, thick with sleep and worry as he jolted upright, pulling me with him. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Did I — shit, did I hurt you?”
“No,” I whispered, eyes squeezed shut. “No, I’m okay.”
“You’re crying — Junie, baby — look at me?—”
I pressed my face to his chest, trying to breathe through the sob building in my throat. “I’m not sad,” I managed, voice breaking.
His hand curved around my jaw, coaxing my face up, his brows drawn together in panic even as he tried to be gentle. “Then what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t know I was allowed to feel like this. Not after… Not after so long ofnot.”
