Author's POV
The hospital room had gone still, the sterile quiet broken only by the soft hiss of the air vents.
After what felt like hours, the man on the bed stirred.
Lucian opened his eyes slowly, wincing against the dim light that filtered in through the frosted window. He sat up with care, one hand bracing his sore ribs.
His gaze drifted across the narrow space between the beds—a strip of pale linoleum barely three feet wide, yet to him, it felt like the goddamn Atlantic.
A barrier. An insult. A reminder that the woman he wanted most was always just out of reach.
Allison lay curled on her side, her breathing soft and even.
Even in sleep, she looked like a fortress—calm on the surface, but impossible to breach.
Lucian clicked his tongue quietly.
The irritati
