Posted for the world. But saved forhim.I stared at it as if it might vanish. Like it mightmeansomething.
God, I was so fucked.
Every ‘rule’ I had set in place last night had been vanquished with the setting sun. No staying over unless his presence relaxed me past the point of consciousness.
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly thick.
“You’re gonna break my heart,” I whispered, so soft it could’ve been a dream. My fingers brushed a loose curl off of his forehead, lingering a beat longer than I should have.
I turned to leave. Quiet. Gentle. I just needed to get back into bed. To stop making this worse. To stop pretending I didn’t want every second of it. And then —
“Don’t go.” His voice was gravel and heat. Barely audible. Like maybe he wasn’t awake at all.
I froze.
Turned back slowly.
His eyes were half-closed, lashes fanned against his cheek. But his head was tilted now. Toward me. Like he’d followed my voice out of sleep. “Ansel,” I whispered.
He didn’t answer — not with words, anyway. Justreached. His hand brushed my wrist, clumsy and soft, not trying to pull me close. Justtouching, like he needed to know I was still there.
Like maybe he dreamed about this too.
“I wasn’t—” I started. Swallowed. Tried again. “I was just going back to bed.”
His fingers curled lightly around my wrist. Not tight. Not pleading. “Stay.”
A breath.
A beat.
Then quieter — like it cost him something to say it, “Please, June.”
And that was the moment. Not a kiss. Not even a confession.
Just this.
Him, blinking up at me like he’d cracked himself open in the dark.
Me, holding the pieces. Too afraid to keep them. Too wrecked to let them go.
I sank to the floor beside the couch, my knees folding under me, his hand still wrapped around my wrist. “Okay,” I said, even though it wasn’t.
Or… even though itwas.
He exhaled a heavy sigh. And when his thumb brushed once — just once — against my skin, I leaned in and let my forehead rest against his chest.
We didn’t say anything after that.
We didn’t need to.
Becausethiswas the almost.
The just-before.
And… oh my god.
I have never been so afraid of falling.
