LILA’S POV**

The days after blurred into a haze of stolen touches and charged silences.

Jax was gentler now, but the hunger never left his eyes. He still watched me like I was the only thing that mattered in his world, yet he held back from full scenes at the club. Instead, he brought me home every night and held me close, as if afraid I might disappear.

Tonight, though, something felt different.

We’d just finished a quiet dinner on the balcony. The ocean whispered below us, and the moon painted everything silver. Jax had been quieter than usual, his hand never leaving my thigh under the table, thumb stroking...