She shifts in her sleep, curling closer. I nearly groan at the sensation. She doesn’t even know how tightly she’s wrapped around my every thought.
But somewhere beneath the satisfaction, doubt creeps in.
I can’t help but wonder…
Did she reach for me in the end because she didn’t know how else to pacify me?
Is she only still here because she doesn’t know how to walk away?
When she leaves the penthouse, will she come back willingly?
I feel something ugly stir inside of me, gnawing at the edges of the calm I try so hard to maintain. I pull her closer, wrapping my arm fully around her waist, pressing flush against her back.
Last night I saw the questions behind her eyes that she didn’t dare voice directly. She didn’t push, but it’s clear that she’s starting to notice. My beautiful girl is perceptive to a fault. I have no doubt that the gears in that brilliant mind of hers had already begun to turn. But if she figures out the truth before I find the courage to tell her…that might be the final straw.
I brush her hair back from her face, careful not to wake her, but my jaw clenches at the thought of her slipping from my grasp. Olivia can drift all she wants in her dreams, but I won’t lose her to them.
I press closer, my body curved along the length of hers, heat spreading low in my stomach at the way she fits so perfectly against me. She makes the smallest sound, barely audible, and it’s like fuel to the fire that never really extinguishes where she’s concerned.
I could keep her in this bed forever.A twisted part of me even fantasizes about it, but the world will keep pulling at her—friends, old attachments, memories of the life she lived before I existed in it.
And Landon.
I would tear his name from the fabric of existence if I had the power.
I think about him more than I want to admit, even to myself. He hasn’t messaged her. But that doesn’t mean he won’t try. Guys like him don’t give up. Especially not when the prize is someone as perfect as my Olivia.
I kiss her hairline, inhaling deeply as if it could cleanse the thought from my mind.
It doesn’t.
I’ll just have to keep him away by any means necessary.
I’m not blind to Olivia’s soft heart—the way she tries to make room for people who don’t deserve her. I can feel that attachment like a thorn buried deep between us, and I’ll let the rest of the world bleed before I let it fester.
“Don’t,” she mumbles in her sleep, pushing half-heartedly at the arm that tightens around her.
I smile against her skin. “Don’t what?”
But she has already drifted back into unconsciousness, unaware of the weight of my thoughts or the direction they’re spiraling in.
Let her sleep. I will handle the rest.
Olivia sitsacross from me in silence. The scrape of her fork against her plate is the only thing she offers. She barely ate half the eggs I made before pushing them around the plate.
I lean against the counter, watching her from across the kitchen.
Her hair is still damp from the shower, curling slightly at the ends as it clings to the collar of my sweatshirt she’s wearing. I like the way it looks on her, oversized and hanging off one shoulder. She always fixes it when she catches me staring.
Not today.
“Not hungry?” I ask lightly, crossing the space between us. I press my hands to the edge of the table, leaning just close enough that she can’t ignore my presence.
“I’m just tired.” Her smile is thin, fragile at the edges. “Last night drained me.”
Good.I want her tired. I want the memory of her trembling in my arms to weigh down every limb.If she’s exhausted, she won’t run.
But exhaustion doesn’t explain the distance in her eyes.
