CARMEN
I woke gradually, savouring the comfort that made movement seem unnecessary.
My lips smacked slowly together as I shifted just enough to sense my surroundings—and who I was lying on.
Tim.
The realization didn’t hit all at once. It came in layers.
The steady rise and fall beneath my cheek. The heat of his skin under my hands. The way my body was draped across his made me feel completely entitled to be there.
And then, as I lay there, everything from last night rushed back in.
The office with Beast and his information overload.
My parents' secret alternative life that they kept from me.
And then there was Arthur.
The truth that shattered everything I thought I knew.
My chest tightened for half a second—and then Tim’s arm shifted slightly around me in his sleep, pulling me c
