The silence inside the car was nothing like the one at dinner.
This silence was taut. Heavy. Pulling at my nerves like strings wound too tight, humming with the weight of something unsaid.
I sat in the passenger seat, hands folded in my lap, eyes fixed on the city lights flashing by the window. Alessandro’s car moved smoothly through the streets, the soft hum of the engine doing little to ease the pounding in my chest.
He had kissed me.
I had kissed him back.
And now I was sitting in his car, heart racing, blood roaring in my ears, completely unable to shake the image burned into my brain—the blue of his eyes in the dark, like a flame behind glass.
"You okay?"
His voice cut through the quiet, low and careful.
I turned my head, startled. Alessandro glanced at me quickly before looking back at the road, his hand relaxed on the wheel.
I forced a nod. "Yeah. I'm okay."
"Are you sure?"
His tone was softer now, more intimate. There was something about the way he spoke that made me want to c
