“Sleep,” I whisper, voice rough. “We need rest.”
Stella nods slowly, still dazed. “Okay.”
As I drift off to sleep, all I can think about is…
Whoever decided to make Stella Hart a target…
They just made her mine.
And I’ll burn the world down before I let anyone take her away.
TEN
STELLA
I wake up to the kind of quiet that feels earned.
Not empty. Not lonely. Just… calm.
There’s warm light slipping through the curtains and the soft creak of the cabin settling around us like it’s exhaling. My body is pleasantly heavy, the way it gets when you’ve actually slept instead of spending the night spiraling over worst-case scenarios.
And Jack is here.
Not across the room. Not on the couch. Not on the floor like a noble, suffering statue.
Here—close enough that when I shift, I feel him shift too, like we’re tethered by something invisible and stubborn.
Last night… happened.
We didn’t justalmostcross a line.
We stepped over it together and didn’t look back.
I keep my eyes on the ceiling for a second, trying to pretend I’m the same Stella Hart who thought a safe house meant “weird vacation, maybe some board games.”
My cheeks heat.
Because I can still feel his mouth on mine. The way his hands held me like he was afraid I’d vanish if he let go. The way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that made sense.
I turn my head slightly.
Jack is on his back, one arm behind his head, eyes closed. He looks… dangerous even in sleep. Like the world can’t touch him unless he allows it.
I watch his throat move when he swallows—still asleep, still aware.
“You’re staring,” he rumbles, eyes still closed.
I jerk like I’ve been caught stealing. “I’m not.”
One eye opens, dark and amused. “You are.”
I huff. “I’m… assessing.”
His mouth twitches. “Assessing what.”
“How you manage to look like you could take down a cartel while asleep.”
Now both eyes open. His gaze slides over me—slow, lazy, absolutely not professional. The heat in it makes my stomach flip like I’m back in high school and someone cute just held my hand for the first time.
