~ Camilla

For a long moment after he kissed me, that impossibly soft, gentle kiss that felt like it belonged in another universe, I just lay there staring at the ceiling while he drifted back to sleep beside me.

And my mind… my mind did the worst possible thing it could do.

It began to hope.

God, the betrayal of it. I could feel it rising like warm, golden smoke inside my chest, that stupid flutter that said maybe, maybe, maybe he was changing. Maybe the rescue, the fear of losing me, the sleepless nights… maybe something in him cracked open. Maybe there was a heart tangled somewhere inside all...