Somewhere fragile.
He shifts, and the sensation pulls a breath from me, sharp and unsteady, my fingers tightening against him as I try to hold onto something solid.
Because this—this feels right.
Too right.
And that’s exactly what terrifies me.
“No,” I say, even as my body betrays me, leaning into him, asking for more without permission. “No claims. No forever. Just right now.”
My voice shakes a little.
Not from uncertainty about what I want.
But from knowing how easily I could want more.
Something flashes in his eyes then.
Dark.
Intense.
Possessive in a way that makes my Bear rise up, answering him, reaching for something bigger than this moment.
Mine, she whispers.
My heart echoes it.
And I—I shove it down.
Hard.
Because I’ve been here before.
Not like this, not with someone like him, but I’ve given too much, too fast, to someone who didn’t hold it the way it deserved to be held.
I won’t do that again.
Even if everything inside me is screaming to.
He holds my gaze for a long second.
And then—he nods.
“Right now,” he agrees.
And the way he says it?
It’s not dismissive.
It’s not careless.
It’s like he’s accepting the boundary even though he doesn’t like it.
Even if part of him wants to push past it.
That matters.
