The drive was silent, not the comfortable kind, but the kind where every second is strung tight, humming with everything unsaid.

The city lights blurred past, casting fleeting shadows across Jaxon’s face. His jaw was set, his grip on the steering wheel firm, but I could see the muscle in his cheek ticking, like he was wrestling with something.

My mind kept replaying the way his hand had been in my hair, the heat of his breath right before we’d both pulled back.

We shouldn’t have. ...