Hadrian covered me in tender kisses, each one light and deliberate. He wasn’t trying to ignite passion but to make me feel cherished, and in that moment, I felt it deeply. We lay there, bare and intertwined, doing nothing more than softly caressing one another. Smiles lingered on our faces as if we were trapped in a magical bubble, untouched by reality. For those few hours, my heart found peace, and I drifted into one of the most restful sleeps I’d had in ages.

The faint rustling ...