KAEL
When she stepped out onto the deck, I almost forgot how to breathe.
The lights, the candles, the endless stars, none of it mattered. Not when she was standing there in that slip of silk, her hair brushed back, her eyes wide with that mix of wonder and disbelief that made her look like she'd stepped out of a dream I didn't deserve to have.
I tightened my hand around the camellias so hard I almost crushed them, because the only thing I wanted to do was cross the distance between us, take her face in my hands, and kiss her until we both forgot where we were. But I held myself back, barely. If I lost my control now, I'd ruin the very thing I'd built this night for.
She caught me staring, of course. Aria always did. Her voice broke through the storm inside me, soft but sharp enough to tether me. "Kael… what is this?"
