The first time I saw him up close, the power was out, and I was barefoot in nothing but a thin sleep shirt.The neighborhood was silent, the kind of silence that makes every small sound feel too loud. The streetlamps were dead, the houses dark. My phone battery was nearly gone, and the heat inside my house had started to build like a slow, smothering blanket. So I stepped out onto the porch, not expecting to see anyone else.But he was there.Leaning against the black metal railing of his balcony next door, shirt sleeves rolled up, hands in his pockets, watching the night like it belonged to him. He wasn’t supposed to look that good in the dark. Tall. Sharp jaw. That kind of presence that eats the quiet alive.I froze, my toes curling against the cool porch floor. He turned his head slowly, and the moment our eyes met, something inside my chest gave a hard, traitorous kick.“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, voice smooth like warm liquor.I folded my arms over my chest, suddenly too aware of
Last Updated : 2025-10-25 Read more