I couldn't help but wonder what Ashton had been doing during that half-hour. Maybe he had taken a cold shower, like the male leads in romance novels.

Thinking about how things had come to such an abrupt halt earlier made me too embarrassed to reply to his text. That night, I tossed and turned, unable to settle down.

The phrase "the gate of desire, an insurmountable chasm" now made perfect sense to me.

I slept poorly and woke up early, though no ...