ALEXANDER

I knelt on her bedside, watching her chest rise and fall evenly. She hasn't stirred. Not once. Not even when I was cleaning her, her eyelashes only fluttered, and that was that.

“We really wore you out, huh?” I whispered, my hands itching to touch her, caressed her skin, and held her, but I resisted. Because what if I did and she woke up? And then this moment will be gone.

She was right here, in my home, sleeping so close to me with her guard down, and yet… yet I couldn’t let myself be soft. I couldn’t let my guard down, because once I did, there was no...