I’d rolled my eyes, but the teasing had heat creeping up my neck the whole drive home.
I stretch, grab my phone from the nightstand, and thumb through the usual flood of notifications. Emails from PR, a couple of messages from the content team, nothing urgent. A small mercy.
My thumb hovers for a moment before I open the Veil app.
Of course, there’s a message waiting from @HalfWritten.
@HalfWritten:
Good morning. Hope your day’s wonderful. Maybe I’ll get lucky and hear from you soon.
A smile tugs at my lips before I can stop it. This is whatnormallooks like, isn’t it? A kind, attentive man. Someone easy to talk to. Someone who doesn’t make my pulse jump just by standing too close.
Definitely not a broody Irish footballer who smells of cedar and drives me insane.
I type before I can overthink it.
@OneLastLine:
Good morning. I’ve missed talking to you. Crazy how we’ve only known each other a few days and it already feels like part of my routine. How are you?
It only takes a minute for the dots to appear.
@HalfWritten:
Better now that I get to talk to you.
I bite my lip, smiling at the screen like an idiot.
@OneLastLine:
Smooth. You always this charming, or do I just bring it out of you?
@HalfWritten:
Maybe a bit of both. Been working all morning. You make a good distraction.
@OneLastLine:
I’ll take that as a compliment.
@HalfWritten:
Funny how a single message from you makes it easier to breathe.
I stare at the message a moment longer than I should. He always writes like that—simple, steady. The kind of man who sayslessbut somehow meansmore.
@OneLastLine:
You’ve got a way with words, you know that?
@HalfWritten:
Only with you.
I exhale a soft laugh, sinking back into the pillows. The conversation feels so easy, natural, like we’ve known each other for longer than a few days.
@OneLastLine:
