Clara
I woke before Ethan did, sunlight filtering through the curtains in pale gold streaks, and lay still for a long moment simply watching him sleep, something in my chest aching with a tenderness I hadn't let myself feel in longer than I could remember. The careful armor he wore into every boardroom, every negotiation, every guarded conversation these past weeks, had fallen away entirely in sleep, leaving behind something younger, softer, closer to the man I'd fallen in love with on a rooftop five years ago than the composed heir the business papers described.
He stirred eventually, his eyes opening slowly, finding me watching him, and a smile spread across his face that I hadn't seen from him since his return, unguarded and entirely without calculation.
"Good morning," he said, his
