ZOE DEAN'S POV
A loud yawn slipped out of me before I could stop it, stretching my arms above my head until my muscles trembled. My body felt strangely light this morning — the kind of lightness that comes after releasing something heavy you didn't even realize you'd been carrying. Maybe it was the travel. Maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was… him.
Either way, I felt good. Warm. Rested.
I rolled to my side, fully intending to steal a few more minutes of sleep — and froze.
Nero's face filled my vision.
For a heartbeat, my brain short-circuited. What—
Then it rushed back in a slow, spreading warmth: Thailand. Last night. Him.
It had been so long since I woke up next to him that my heart did something embarrassing in my chest — a fluttering little leap that I tried, and failed, to ignore. A smile crept onto my face before I could stop it.
God, I had missed this.
I had missed him.
