Ava didn’t sleep well that night.Not because anything was wrong, but because everything felt too right, too suddenly, too close. Joy had a way of slipping into her bed like an uninvited guest—warm, comforting, but also dangerous. She feared waking up and finding it gone again.When she finally closed her eyes, her dreams were full of roses bending toward her and Marcus’s voice whispering things she wasn’t ready to repeat aloud.By sunrise, she was up, dressed, and pacing her kitchen floor with coffee she didn’t need.She loved him.She wasn’t ready to say it—not even to herself—but love was already building a home inside her, unpacking boxes, redecorating the walls.And that terrified her.She was standing in front of her sink when her phone rang.It wasn’t Marcus.It was Asher.She braced herself. He only called early when something was wrong—or when he’d been thinking too much.“Morning, big brother,” she answered.“Ava,” he said, his voice gravelly, “you home?”“Where else I’m sup
Last Updated : 2025-12-09 Read more