Her ribcage felt too small to contain her thundering heart as she looked up at him, caught in the gravity of this moment they’d been orbiting since that night at the hospital. The careful distance they’d maintained dissolved like morning mist, leaving only this - his hand at her waist, her pulse in her throat, and the electric certainty of what would happen next.

As he turned her even more to face him, his palm sliding against her waist in a way that left her skin burning beneath his touch, each point of contact sending sparks racing through her nerve endings. The strength in his grip was gentle yet sure, containing a restrained power that made her head spin with what he may have been capable of.

Looking up at him - he was towering above her, she had to tilt her head back - she saw the intensity in his eyes and her pulse nearly stuttered to a halt. His gaze softened as it traced her features, and understanding bloomed in her chest, wild and reckless and inevitable.

His fingers squeezed inward slightly, steadying her even as they sent tremors that rose from her core. She felt rather than saw his slight step closer, the movement drawing them into their own private orbit. Time stretched like honey in sunlight as the rest of the world faded to a distant whisper. His free hand rose to brush a strand of hair from her face, his fingertips ghosting across her temple in a touch so light it felt like a promise…