"Hey," Dominic whispered against her ear. His breath came out warm, threaded with the faintest hint of coffee.
Celeste stirred.
He gathered her hair in his palm and lifted it gently, exposing the delicate line of her neck. He felt the smooth texture of her new hair, and smiled.
Dominic kissed her earlobe slowly, and reverently, as if reacquainting himself with a piece of her he'd been starved of for too long.
A faint moan escaped her lips. She wasn't fully awake yet. Her body moved instinctively, rolling away from him, and nestling into the pillow.
Dominic let her. He smiled into the hush of the room, and dropped a kiss on the crown of her head.
"I'm back, sweetheart," he whispered, his voice laced with both relief and patience.
Her brows furrowed in her sleep, confusion stitching across her face. "Dominic?" she murmured, her eyes still closed, with her voice weighted with drowsy disbelief.
Dominic's lips curved.
