"We should get you to bed," André said softly, though his body remained still, not moving away from the intimate proximity they'd found themselves in.
Gia swayed slightly, her hand coming up to rest on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her palm. "Not yet," she breathed, her eyes searching his in the dim hallway light filtering through the window at the end of the corridor. "I want... I want to be with you, André."
The admission hung between them like a bridge neither could cross back over once traversed. André felt his pulse quicken despite himself, his breath catching somewhere between his lungs and throat. He'd always cared for Gia deeply—as his best friend, someone whose presence had become as natural and necessary as breathing. But this territory they were entering felt foreign, uncharted, dangerous in its intimacy.
