CHAPTER 16
DYLAN
Ilie on my back, still catching my breath, still riding the aftershocks. My body feels wrecked, spent, completely ruined in the best way possible. Every muscle loose, every nerve still thrumming, like I’ve been taken apart and put back together differently.
Beside me, Kai is sprawled out, one arm draped over his forehead. His chest rises and falls, still heaving from everything we just did. The cocky smirk he always wears? Nowhere in sight. Instead, he looks… relaxed. Unfiltered.Real.
The silence between us is thick. Not uncomfortable. Just… heavy.
The kind of silence that carries weight. Meaning.
I should say something. Make a cocky remark to lighten the mood. Tell him he’s welcome for the best night of his life.
But I don’t.
Instead, I just watch him.
Watch the way his brows furrow slightly, lost in thought. Watch the way his fingers twitch against the sheets, like he wants to reach for something but doesn’t know what. Watch theway his lips part like he’s about to say something, only to close them again.
This is the first moment we’ve had where we’re not devouring each other. And it feels…dangerous.
Kai exhales sharply, dragging his fingers through his messy hair. His voice comes out lower, rougher than before. “You remind me of home.”
I blink, turning my head toward him. “What?”
His jaw tightens slightly, like he didn’t mean to say it out loud.
I keep watching him, waiting. My heart suddenly beats too fast, too hard.
After a moment, he lets out a short, breathless laugh—the self-deprecating kind. “Forget it. I don’t know what I was saying.”
“No.” My voice comes out firm, steady. “Say it.”
He hesitates. His fingers start tracing absent patterns over my bare stomach. Circles, lines, a rhythm I don’t recognize but suddenly never want him to stop.
He exhales, eyes flicking up to the ceiling. “Back home, before rugby, before all this…” He pauses. His fingers tighten slightly against my skin, like he’s grounding himself. “I had nothing but chaos. Everywhere I went, I had to fight for my place—on the field, at home, in my own fucking head.”
His words hit low in my chest. Sink deep. Plant themselves there.
He turns his head toward me, eyes intense, searching. “But you…”
His voice is careful, quiet, weighted. “You feel like something familiar. Something that makes sense. Still exciting and challenging, but…” He trails off, like the words are caught in his throat. Like saying them makes themtooreal.
I don’t know what to say.
Because I felt it too.
The way we push each other. Challenge each other.
The way I didn’t hold back, and neither did he.
The way I’ve been looking for something to ground me.
And maybe…maybe this is it.
But that’s too much. Too real.
This is a one-night stand. As simple as that. A random hookup. Nothing more.