“Nora,” he called again quietly.I lifted my eyes to his.The question he didn’t ask sat in the air between us, unfinished and obvious but waiting for one of us to be brave enough or reckless enough to finish it.His fingers moved like an opening rather than a demand.I stared at that open hand.Then I looked back at his face, at the dark and the lantern light and the months of midnights that had led to this exact, narrow room.My own hand left the underside of the desk but stopped in the air between us, close enough that I could feel the heat of his palm without touching it.I could have closed the distance with the smallest movement. Instead I let the moment stretch until the muscles in my forearm began to complain, then drew back and curled my fingers into the long sleeve of his sweater.Julian didn’t comment. He simply turned his own hand over again and rested it on his thigh, the invitation neither withdrawn nor repeated. The lantern kept its steady circle of light on the desk be
Last Updated : 2026-08-30 Read more