Chapter 17 Ronan

I woke up before the sun, the air still soft with that pale blue that comes right before daylight cuts in. For a few seconds, I didn’t know where I was. My mind reached for the familiar weight of a blanket, the sound of dorm pipes creaking, the smell of Hawthorne’s stone and old pine.

Instead, I smelled moss. Wet earth. Kellan’s skin.

And then every memory from last night hit me in one long, crushing wave.

We’d had sex. Not frantic fumbling or half-clothed or stopping before we crossed some invisible line. Real sex. His body under mine, and both of us tangled up until everything else fell away.

And we’d fallen asleep out here like idiots, naked and tangled together on damp moss, his thigh thrown over mine like he owned the right to touch me in his sleep.

I didn’t move. For a long moment, I just watched him.

His face was relaxed, mouth soft and parted in a way that made my chest feel too full. His curls had fallen over his forehead again. The early light caught the faint bru