Being greedy with our limited time, I used the tip of my finger to trace around his chin; the squareness of his jaw was an art form in itself. As I studied his face I noticed it was marked with little scars. Every one of them made me curious to know where it came from. The one above his eyebrow was deep, along with the one below his lip. I touched it gently; the skin was soft and puffy. Kael rumbled a little and turned his cheek, mumbling something about rocket ships.

Kael draped his arm around me, pinning me to the bed. There was something incredibly safe-feeling about being with him physically. I couldn’t understand it, but the world seemed so far from us, my walls felt ten feet thick, my house made from iron and stone, not brick and drywall. I wondered if I should wake him up. I didn’t know what time it was, but since I didn’t have to work today, I craved a few more minutes with him in the silence.

There were so many things I wanted to do, and they all involved Kael. I hoped Kael didn’t have another full day of appointments. I really, really didn’t want my dreamlike time with him to prematurely come to a screeching, lonely halt. I continued to stare at every feature of his face, his bare chest, the tattoo on his forearm, and the nearby deep scar in the perfect shape of a bullet hole. I shivered and hoped I was wrong about that one. Thinking of him hurt was overwhelming and scary. I tried to analyze how it could be possible to feel this connected to another person after such a short stretch of time. How did I live before this? How would I after it? It was going to be so much worse when he left now that he’d stayed the night with me.

There wasn’t a dull moment the entire night, and as our voices had quietly filled my room with our secrets, I finally realized how insanely rare it was to meet someone who understood me. When Kael opened his eyes, my endorphins rose and I smiled back at his sleepy, so, so swoony grin. He buried his face in my messy hair and groaned, pushing his body against mine. Did he want to kiss me again or was he hiding in embarrassment? My heart pounded as he lifted himself up and faced me.

“Hi.” He spoke softly. His voice was tired and deep.

“Hi,” I whispered back, wondering what the sun would bring.

Kael didn’t say anything.

My paranoia began to grow. “I’m sorry if—”

He rolled on top of me, his arms on both sides of my head. He dipped his head down to look at me. With his mouth, Kael erased my doubts and thoughts as his lips moved down my jaw, across my collarbone. I closed my eyes.