⋅•⋅⊰∙∘⋆✼♡✽⋆∘∙⊱⋅•
The hallway felt eerily quiet once Annalise's heels faded into mere echoes, the kind of silence that presses against your eardrums, making every breath sound ridiculously loud. Xavier still held me close, like he thought I might disappear if he eased his grip even a little.
One hand was protectively placed on my lower back while the other cradled my neck, his thumb making absent, soothing circles over the fake mating mark that had sparked all of this chaos. My cheek rested against the crisp linen of his shirt, cedar smoke and expensive wool filling my lungs, and for just a heartbeat, I let myself buy into the fantasy we'd been weaving all night-that this was real, that I truly belonged in his arms, and that the world outside that door couldn't interfere with us.
