Lirael's POV

Her hand reached out, coming to rest on my chest, right over my wildly beating heart. The warmth of her touch seeped through me, comforting and electrifying all at once. "And I really, really like what I see," she confessed, her eyes locking with mine in a moment of shared vulnerability.

Relief flooded through me, a weight lifting off my shoulders as her words sank in. Without hesitation, I took a step closer to her, my hand instinctively finding its way into her soft hair, fingers ...