And then his fingers brushed against mine again. This time coaxing. Asking.
So, before I could stop myself, I let my fingers curl with his.
When his fingers tightened in response, strong and warm, a slow pulse of heat moved through me.
Because we were holding hands.
In a bed.
And it isn’t for anyone else to see.
His thumb swept over my knuckles once.
Then twice.
I swallowed hard, staring into the dark.
Did this mean what happened on the beach actually hadn’t all been for show?
Did it mean there was something behind it on Theo’s side, too?
Something real?
Because if everything down there had been for Diego’s sake, we wouldn’t be holding hands like this right now. Not in the dark. Not when there was no one here to convince.
I felt him shift closer, the mattress dipping slightly.
And when he murmured, “You okay with this?” his voice was low, close enough that I could feel it against my hair.
“Yes,” I breathed, my answer coming out too fast.
Too honest.
His thumb paused, and I worried my eagerness may have scared him off. But then he caressed my knuckles again, slower this time, like he was thinking.
Like he was deciding.
I turned my head just enough to face him. “What about you? Are you okay with this?”
A soft exhale left him, one that sounded almost like a laugh, before he said, “I think so?”
And that single sentence hit me hard.
Because for him, this wasn’t just flirting. This was more serious than that.
This was him letting down his carefully guarded walls and learning how to show affection for a woman again.
Allowing himself towantafter two years of holding everything back.
I rolled over before I could talk myself out of it, moving slow, careful, like I was testing the world to see if it would let me have this.
While I couldn’t see much in the dark, I could make out the line of his face, the shape of his mouth.
I could see that he was watching me.
“You’re so beautiful, Nora,” he said, his voice rougher now.
And just the way he said that made my heart hammer.