CHAPTER 376

Damien’s POV

I could hear that quiet, suspended breath on the other end of the line—the one people take when they’ve done something honest without armor and are just realizing how exposed they are.

There was a pause. Then a soft, nervous laugh.

“Well,” Celeste said, almost shyly, “I think it mostly has to do with you. But you’re right about the description.” She cleared her throat. “It’s exactly you.”

Something loosened in my chest.

“Exactly me,” I repeated, amused. “So… you think I’m stunning?”

“No,” she answered quickly. “You’re dangerous.”

I laughed, low and slow, leaning back in my chair. “I guess in a way… yeah. I am.” Then, quieter, more deliberate: “But I hope in a good way.”

She laughed again, that sound threading straight through me. “Mostly,” she said. “Definitely mostly.”

There it was.

The flirtation wasn’t loud or reckless. It didn’t need to be. It hovered between us, charged and unspoken, like a wire humming just beneath the surface.

But while we joked, my mind stayed on