Close.
I braced before she opened her eyes, not for the storm, but for the way she’d look at me.
Like last night hadn’t been madness.
Like it hadn’t been a mistake.
Like she still wanted me.
Her fingers curled against my ribs again, tighter this time, as if her body felt me pulling back before her mind did.
“Atlas…” she breathed, half-asleep, soft and warm and devastating.
The sound tore through me. I closed my eyes for a heartbeat. If she asked for anything, anything at all, I would give it to her.
Her lashes fluttered again, once, twice, and then she blinked herself awake, pupils dark and unfocused, her cheek still pressed to my chest.
For half a breath, she didn’t move, but then her eyes lifted.
And gods.
There is nothing in this world, no storm, no power, no war that could’ve prepared me for the way she looked at me in that moment —sleepy, warm, lips parted, hair tangled, wearing the memory of last night like a second skin.
Her gaze drifted down to where her hand rested over my ribs, her fingers curled possessively.
Then up again and she met my gaze. Heat cracked through me, sharp and immediate.
“Good morning,” she whispered, voice husky with sleep.
I swallowed. “You’re?—”
I had no idea how to finish that sentence without confessing something dangerous.
“—awake.”
She smiled.
“Were you watching me?”
Caught. Absolutely caught.
Her fingers pressed lightly into my skin, like she already knew the answer.
“Yes,” I said quietly. No point in lying. “I was.”
Her breath caught… I felt it.
Her body moved closer, just an inch, but enough to burn through the fragile restraint I’d started piecing back together.
“Why?” she asked, but the way she asked it wasn’t shy.
It was soft, curious, almost teasing.
I didn’t mean to touch her. But my hand lifted, fingers brushing a loose strand of hair from her face, trailing down the line of her jaw with a reverence that bordered on worship.
Her eyes fluttered half-closed. “Because,” I said, voice rougher than I intended, “I didn’t want to miss the moment you opened your eyes.”
Her breath stilled.
