ANMELDENChapter 4 I last another hour before I can’t stay in my room anymore. The silence on the other side of the wall feels louder than any argument. I keep picturing Miles lying there awake the same way I am, staring at nothing, replaying the unfinished conversation in the kitchen. Every time I close my eyes I see the look on his face when I told him maybe we shouldn’t tell each other things. Hurt. Confused. Like I’d taken something steady and deliberately broken it. I sit up. The floor is cold under my feet when I stand. I don’t turn on any lights. I just walk out into the hallway and stop in front of his closed door. For a long time I do nothing except listen. No movement. No sound. He might have finally fallen asleep. Or he might be lying there in the dark doing exactly what I’m doing waiting for something to give. I open the door. Miles is on his back, one arm thrown over his head, the sheets pushed down to his waist. The city light coming through the blinds cuts soft lines acros
Chapter 3 Morning comes too early and too bright. I hear Miles moving around the apartment before I get out of bed cupboards opening, the coffee maker starting, the low sound of him humming under his breath the way he does when he thinks no one is listening. For a few seconds I just lie there and listen. The ordinary noises feel heavier than they should after last night. When I finally walk into the kitchen he’s standing at the counter in sweatpants and an old T-shirt, hair still messy from sleep. He glances over and gives me a small smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hey.” “Hey.” I pour coffee. The silence between us isn’t empty, but it’s careful. Miles leans against the counter and watches me for a moment like he’s deciding something. “About last night,” he starts. “You don’t have to” “I do.” He sets his mug down. “I was half asleep and talking out of my ass. If I made things weird” “You didn’t.” “Theo.” “You didn’t make things weird.” I keep my voice even. “We we
Chapter 2Sleep never really comes.I drift in and out for a few hours, always half aware of the wall that separates my room from his. When the sky starts turning gray I give up and get out of bed. The apartment is still quiet. I make coffee on autopilot and stand at the counter drinking it black while the city wakes up outside the window.Miles doesn’t appear until almost eleven. He shuffles into the kitchen barefoot, hair flattened on one side, wearing the same soft T-shirt he slept in. He makes a low, wordless sound when he sees me and heads straight for the coffee pot.“You look like shit,” he says, voice rough with sleep.“Good morning to you too.”He pours a mug, leans against the counter across from me, and studies my face over the rim. “Did you sleep at all?”“Some.”“Liar.”I don’t bother denying it this time. He takes another sip and lets the silence sit. It’s comfortable the way it always is between us, but underneath it something feels tighter than usual. I keep my eyes on
Chapter 1The takeout containers are still open on the coffee table when Miles drops onto the couch beside me hard enough to make the cushions shift.“You’re hogging the good side again,” he says, already reaching for the remote.“I was here first.”“Doesn’t matter. Move.”I don’t move. He shoves at my thigh with his socked foot anyway, grinning when I finally slide over a few inches. The second I’m out of the way he sprawls, one long leg stretched out, the other folded so his knee presses against mine. It’s the same way he always sits. Close. Careless. Like the space between us never meant anything.I keep my eyes on the screen.We’ve been doing this for three years now. Same apartment, same couch, same late nights that stretch longer than either of us plans. Miles talks more than I do. Laughs louder. Touches without thinking hand on my shoulder when he walks past, fingers brushing mine when he steals food from my container, the solid weight of him leaning into my side when the movie
Chapter 5 Elena’s pov I didn’t plan it.One minute I was standing in my kitchen with the same restless heat under my skin that had refused to leave for days. The next I was pulling on a sweater and jeans, grabbing my keys, and walking out the door before I could talk myself out of it. The night air felt cold against my face. My pulse was already too fast.I didn’t text him that I was coming.When I reached his building I took the stairs again. My hand shook once when I raised it to knock. I knocked anyway.Footsteps. The lock turned.Noah opened the door wearing the same soft gray T-shirt from before. His hair was slightly messy. His eyes moved over my face and something in them shifted quiet recognition, like he had been waiting without letting himself hope.“Elena.”“Can I come in?”He stepped aside. I walked past him into the low light of his apartment. The door clicked shut. For a moment neither of us spoke. I could hear my own breathing.I turned to face him.“I’m tired of runn
Chapter 4Elena’s povI left his apartment with my coat half buttoned and my pulse still hammering in my throat.The night air hit my face the second the building door closed behind me. I didn’t look back. My heels clicked too loud on the sidewalk. Every step sent a dull, frustrated ache between my legs where his mouth and fingers had been. I could still feel the exact pressure of his hand at the base of my throat. I could still hear the question he kept asking while he edged me until my voice broke.Why are you so scared of me seeing you?I never answered. I shoved my feet back into my heels, grabbed my coat, and walked out before the words could leave my mouth. The look on his face when I left stayed with me the entire way home.Days blurred after that.I went back to work. I answered emails. I laughed when people expected me to. At night I lay in bed with the sheets too warm and my body too restless. I touched myself more than once with my eyes closed, replaying the way he had held
Chapter 1: Arrival at Graves RanchThe old pickup truck rattled to a stop in front of the sprawling wooden house, kicking up a cloud of red dust that clung to my skin like regret. I stepped out with my beat up suitcase in one hand, the Texas heat slamming into me like a living thing. Nineteen year
Chapter 5: The First TouchThe next few nights blurred into a haze of secret anticipation. Every evening after dinner, Colt would catch my eye across the table with that knowing look and murmur, “Night ride tonight, little filly. Wear something easy to move in.” My body had started craving it befo
Chapter 4: Private Night RidesThe house had gone quiet after dinner, but sleep felt impossible. My body still hummed from the day’s chores and another riding lesson where Colt’s hands had lingered just a second too long on my hips. I was standing by my window again, staring at the moonlit pasture
Chapter 3: Settling In and Sparks IgniteThe days started blurring together in the best kind of way. By the third morning, my muscles ached from yesterday’s ride, but I refused to complain. After breakfast eggs, bacon, and strong black coffee that Colt made like it was his personal mission to wake







