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Twelve
publish date:
2026-02-07 02:23:24
Latest chapter
To be loved like this Nineteen
When Raegan moved in, it hadn’t felt temporary.There were no “until you figure things out” conversations. Actually, the conversation involving how long she would stay was minimal. No timelines. No polite distance.Marley had cleared out the second bedroom without being asked. She’d painted one wall the deep blue Raegan always said made her feel calm. She’d assembled the bookshelf wrong twice and sworn at the instructions until Raegan laughed so hard she cried.“This isn’t charity,” Marley had said when Raegan hesitated in the doorway that first night, duffel bag still slung over her shoulder. “It’s logistics. We live better together.”Raegan had searched her face for a crack in that statement. There wasn’t one. So she stepped inside and that was that.They split groceries. They argued about thermostat settings. They developed a system for dishes that only made sense to them. They labeled shelves not because they needed to, but because it made them laugh. “Marley’s Sensible Snacks” an
To be loved like this Eighteen
Raegan stood there for a moment after Bryer stepped inside, fingers still tracing the worn edge of the book like it might vanish if she looked away.The door clicked shut behind him, and the sound echoed through the apartment more loudly than it should have. Not because the space was big, but because it had been holding so much quiet lately. The kind of quiet that presses against your skin. The kind that reminds you you’re alone even when you’re trying not to think about it.She barely registered Bryer moving farther in, the way he paused like he wasn’t sure where to put himself. Her attention stayed fixed on the book; its weight, its texture, the way the cover bent slightly under her thumb, proof that it had been opened and loved and carried before it ever reached her.It wasn’t just that he remembered.It was how he remembered.She had mentioned The Sky Beneath Our Feet in passing. Not with intention. Not as a request. Just a soft aside in the middle of a conversation that had wande
To be loved like this Seventeen
Bryer stood in front of the door for a solid thirty seconds before knocking.Book in hand. Heart lodged somewhere inconveniently high in his throat.The hallway buzzed softly with the sound of a neighbor’s television seeping through thin walls, the laugh track from a sitcom he didn’t recognize, the clink of someone else’s dinner dishes being stacked and rinsed away for the night. Normal sounds. Ordinary life happening all around him. But in Bryer’s chest, it was thunder, loud and chaotic and impossible to ignore.He shifted his weight, glanced down at the book again as if to reassure himself it was still real.The Sky Beneath Our Feet.That was the one. The out-of-print novel Raegan had mentioned weeks ago over lukewarm coffee and crumpled napkins at the diner down the street. He remembered the way she’d leaned forward as she talked, elbows on the table, hands moving animatedly like she was trying to pull the memory closer. She’d lit up, eyes bright, voice warming as she explained how
To be loved like this Sixteen
Owen hadn’t touched her side of the bed.He didn’t consciously avoid it. There was no decision behind it, no careful maneuvering of sheets or deliberate keeping to his own edge. It just stayed empty. Pristine, almost. Like a museum exhibit behind invisible glass. As if she’d only stepped out for a second and might come back at any moment. Keys jingling at the door, coffee cup in hand, hair a mess, apologizing for taking so long and laughing like it had never been a big deal.Except she wouldn’t.And he knew that now, in a way that sat heavy in his chest and refused to be ignored.The apartment had gotten quiet in a new way. Not just empty, but echoing. Silence didn’t just exist here.. it lingered. It pooled in corners and pressed against the walls. Her laugh no longer bounced off the kitchen tiles when she told a story mid-chop. Her half-read books weren’t stacked precariously on the end table anymore, bookmarks frozen in the middle like paused thoughts. No humming drifted from the ba
To be loved like this Fifteen
There was a tingle in her belly now when she thought about Bryer.It wasn't lust or nerves. It was softer than that. Something like a warm breeze stirring leaves without trying to scatter them. Like the low hum of a song she hadn’t heard in years but still somehow remembered the words to. Something familiar and gentle, moving through her without demanding anything in return.She tried not to overthink it.Tried not to pin it down too quickly, the way she used to. Old Raegan would have her naming feelings before she’d even let them exist fully. She was learning that some things needed space. Needed time to reveal themselves without being cornered by expectation.Still, there was something undeniable about the way her body responded to the thought of him.The way his eyes softened when he listened.The way he didn’t rush silence... or her.The way he asked questions like he actually wanted to know the answers. He didn't just want to fill space, to be polite, but because curiosity came n
To be loved like this Fourteen
Marley had always believed that some women were born soft, and others had softness peeled away from them slowly, until only steel remained.Not the cold kind.Not the brittle kind.The kind forged by pressure and patience. The kind that bent before it broke, and then learned not to bend so far again.Raegan used to be the first kind.Gentle in a way that made people lean in, like they couldn’t quite believe someone so kind could exist without asking for something in return. She listened fully. Loved generously. Gave the benefit of the doubt long after it stopped being deserved. Marley had watched people take that softness like it was an infinite resource, never stopping to wonder what it cost her to keep offering it.But lately…Raegan was becoming steel.Not hardened. Not sharp-edged. Just armored. Learning how to hold her own weight without apologizing for it. Learning that strength didn’t have to be loud to be real.And Marley?Marley had never been more proud.When Raegan first mo
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