I'd been staring at my laptop for three hours. Job applications, cover letters, rejection emails. The loop was draining. I added two more scenes to my manuscript, but the words just... lay there. Flat. My mind kept drifting to golden eyes, to hands that knew exactly where to touch, to the way he said my Fiera like it was something he shouldn't say out loud.

I snapped the laptop shut.

No. I wasn't thinking about him.

The apartment door burst open. Maya stumbled in, grinning in her casual work ...