(Elias POV)That night, the old barn felt smaller than ever, the air thick with the scent of aged oak, dried hay, and the faint, sweet decay of fallen grapes. The single hanging bulb swung gently overhead, casting shifting shadows across the rough wooden walls. Elias held me tighter than ever, his arms like iron bands around my waist, as if letting go would make everything — the vineyard, us, this fragile hope — disappear.“We’re running out of time, Mia,” he murmured against my hair, his voice rough and low, edged with desperation. “For the vineyard. For us.”I traced the old scar on his knuckles, the one from the day he’d bloodied his fist defending me as a kid. The memory sent a sharp pang through my chest — tenderness mixed with years of buried longing.“Then we stop running,” I whispered, pulling back just enough to meet his stormy eyes.The words barely left my lips before his mouth claimed mine.This kiss wasn’t like the others — the careful, restrained ones that always stopped
Read more