“Stay,” she says, grabbing my shirt. “Please stay.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
I remove her shoes and pull the blanket over her. Then I lie down beside her, fully clothed, on top of the covers.
She immediately curls into me, head on my chest, arm across my waist.
“Thank you,” she murmurs. “For being here.”
“Get some sleep.”
Within minutes, her breathing evens out. She’s passed out, the wine and emotional exhaustion finally pulling her under.
I lie there in the dark, aware of her weight against me.
My chest feels tight. Not painful. Just…different.
Wrong. No, not wrong. Unfamiliar.
I’ve never done this before. Never held a woman while she slept. Never let anyone curl into me like this. Sex, yes. Intimacy during sex, sure. This vulnerable trust?
Never.
And the way my heart is beating right now, steady but somehow louder, like it’s trying to tell me something I don’t understand.
I extract myself carefully, making sure she’s deeply asleep before I slip out of her room. I need to talk to someone who might understand what the hell is happening to me.
I find Kai in his room, awake and scrolling through his phone.
He looks up when I walk in. “It’s one in the morning.”
“I know what time it is.”
“So this is either a business emergency or a personal crisis.” He sets down his phone. “Which is it?”
I close the door behind me. “Personal. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“That’s concerning coming from you.” He gestures to the chair. “Sit. Talk.”
I sit, then immediately stand and pace. “I need you to explain something to me.”
“Okay?”
“What does it feel like to be in love?”
Kai blinks. Then grins. “Holy shit. Are you serious right now?”
“Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
“Sorry, sorry.” He tries to compose himself. “You’re asking me what love feels like?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you asking me and not Dad?”
“Because Dad’s answer will be philosophical and unhelpful. I need practical information.”
Kai leans back against his headboard. “Okay. Love. Let me think.” He’s quiet for a moment. “It feels like your chest is going to explode. Not in a bad way. Just like there’s this pressure building, and you can’t quite catch your breath.”
