Lauren pressed her face into his chest, overwhelmed by the intimacy of it—not just the physical act, but everything that had led them here. The vulnerability. The risk. The choices.
"Okay?" he murmured, one hand stroking slowly down her back.
She nodded, unable to speak past the emotion in her throat.
He tilted her chin up, searching her face with concern. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks, the tip of her nose.
"I'm never taking this for granted again," he said quietly.
They lay there, quiet again, the kind of quiet that felt like promise.
Lauren didn’t feelready for Monday, but Monday arrived anyway.
She was flipping between emotional exhaustion and that wonderful joy she couldn’t shake.
Tom’s arms around her. The way her body still remembered him.
Inside Muse, the elevator chimed as doors opened onto the fifth floor. The morning bustle was already in full swing.
Wren spotted her instantly.
“There she is—our breakout star!” Wren called across the room.
“You’re trending again,” Sage said. “Some influencer did a reaction video to theI DESERVE BETTERwreath.”
Her pieces—her messy, glittered, handmade pieces—were everywhere. Her inbox had exploded with commission requests. Half a dozen emails from people wanting custom orders.
It should have felt incredible.
Instead, she felt… wobbly.
Like she was walking in shoes a half-size too big and terrified she’d trip.
“Wow,” she murmured. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Sage said, hopping up from her desk to plant a hand on Lauren’s shoulder. “Just bask, babe.”
Lauren laughed—an honest, surprised laugh that loosened something in her chest.
She hung her coat over her chair, trying to shake off the remnants of heartache.
She didn’t want to think about him. Not in the light of day. Not when she finally had something that felt like hers.
“Hey,” Rina said, appearing with a stack of print proofs. “Vivian wants to discuss a follow up article with you. She’s building out the next feature spread.”
“Is this the one with the anti-Valentine’s angle?” Sage asked.
“The very one." Rina waggled her brows at Lauren.
Lauren flushed. “My stuff feels so silly compared to the real art in the magazine.”
“Oh my God,” Zoe said flatly. “If you apologize for being talented one more time, I will personally staple rhinestones to your laptop.”
Lauren snorted and set her bag down. “You’re all impossible.”
“And you love us,” Wren said.
She did. God, she did.
