The tension in the room was unmistakable now—thick with an almost tangible heat.

Celeste could feel Nathaniel's gaze burning into her, his eyes growing darker by the second. The air between them seemed charged with something unspoken that made her heart beat just a little faster.

Her body tensed, her breath catching in her throat.

The atmosphere was shifting, becoming laced with a kind of quiet intensity that wrapped around them like invisible threads, pulling them ...