And in his eyes, something wavered.
Relief. Possession. Maybe even permanence.
His mouth found hers again, slower this time. His lips moved with a reverence that made her dizzy.
This wasn’t hunger. Wasn’t urgency.
It was devotion. Silent. Unrelenting.
Penny’s musiccreated a muffled backdrop to the moment. Laughter echoed. A reminder that the world still turned.
But here?
Here, there was only him.
Only her.
Arden pulled back slightly, her lips still tingling from the heat of him.
Their foreheads bumped gently, and she exhaled a laugh that still carried a smirk.
“You really don’t know what you’re in for,” she said, the edge in her voice softened by something warmer that crept in.
His thumb traced a slow line down her back, steady and unhurried.
And the way he looked at her—like she was rare, ruinous, already his—left her breath caught in her throat.
“With you?” His voice was steady, utterly certain. “Absolutely everything.”
The weight of his words settled deep in her chest, heavy with promise. With inevitability.
Her fingers drifted along his collarbone, mapping the moment, memorizing it.
The quiet intimacy between them was nothing short of gravity, and the ground beneath her might as well have disappeared.
For a long moment, they remained locked in each other’s orbit, the intensity of what was unspoken tethering them.
The outside world loomed at the edges, nothing more than a shadow. What they were building here—raw, electric, undeniable—felt unshakable, even in its newness.
Penny’s laughter cut through the quiet, distant but insistent, pulling at the moment like an inevitable tide.
Reality beckoning.
Arden shifted slightly, lips curving into a small, private smile as she caught Gideon’s gaze.
But she didn’t move away.
And Gideon?
He wasn’t ready to let go, not yet.
His hands moved over her waist, fingers brushing the curve of her hips like they were trying to hold on a little longer.
His thumbs caught beneath her shirt, right where her waist narrowed again.
She was heat and tension under his hands—impossible not to touch.
And fuck, he had no idea how he was supposed to let her walk away now.
