Ever After Awaits

    bChapter /bb101/bb: /bAJ & bCade /bbPOV /b

    AVA AJ POV ***

    The first thing I register is warmth.

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    It’s soft, steady, and tucked against me like it always belonged there. La breathes in a slow rhythm, her back pressed to my chest, and her body fitting into mine like some quiet kind of miracle. My one arm is draped over her, my hand resting low across her stomach, my fingers half–curled under the hem of her sleepshirt, like I’m not willing to let her go even in sleep.

    The second thing I notice, which keeps me frozen in ce, is how right this feels. Like I’ve spent too long convincing myself I didn’t need this, only to wake up and realize I’ve been starving for it this entire time.

    So, I don’t move. And I barely breathe.

    Because if I do, this moment and feeling might vanish. And I’m not ready to lose the first thing that’s felt this damn solid in a very long time.

    My forehead rests against the back of her neck, its curve soft and warm, and it still carries the faint scent of sleep and cinnamon–probably from Cade’s favorite dumb candle downstairs. She shifts slightly, a quiet sigh slipping past her lips, and I swear it

    damn near guts me.

    It’s not the sound per se. It’s the unconscious trust that she has in me holding her. It’s how she’s cocooned in my arms like I’m her new favorite ce tond, not something to

    run from.

    And that? That wrecks me more than anything ever has.

    /

    As I watch her sleep, memories ofst night roll back over me in pieces. The way she pressed into me slowly and deliberately. The way she opened for me was raw, unguarded, and honest. And then she allowed me to hold her through every stuttering breath and

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    Chapter 101: AJ & Cade POV

    tremble. I didn’t know how much I needed to give her that. How much I needed her to let me be that for her.

    I shift just slightly, enough to tighten my arm around her waist. Not to wake her, but to feel her there and remind myself this is real. And that she chose to stay.

    That maybe somehow so did I.

    —

    –

    I should probably get up. Someone wille knocking again soon, and I’m not in the mood to hear Cade’s voice iagain /iafter their pancake threat of earlier. But the thought of leaving her bed of leaving iher /ieven for a second, feels wholly impossible.

    So I stay.

    —

    —

    My thumb brushes the strip of bare skin just above her panties‘ waistband, in a light and slow repetitive motion, memorizing the soft give of her lower stomach beneath my palm.

    She shifts again, and it’s small and unconscious, but I feel the hitch in her breath before she even opens her eyes.

    Still half–asleep, she murmurs in a sleep–heavy, sexy voice, “You’re staring.”

    I don’t deny it. “Yeah,” I say quietly, my fingers still tracing her skin. “Get used to it.”

    She smiles over her shoulder at me. It’szy and smug, and so damn beautiful it makes

    my chest go tight.

    And just like that, I know I’m not leaving this room without kissing her again.

    I lean in, and she instinctively turns her body towards me. Cupping the side of her face reverently, I brush my lips against hers. It starts off softly and with a familiarity that’s unique to us. But the second her hand fists into the front of my tee, it turns into something deeper something that feels like a promise.

    —

    After that, I kiss her like I have all the time in the world and no intention of wasting a

    second of it.

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    Chapter 101: AJ & Cade POV

    :

    When I eventually pull back reluctantly, her eyes are still closed, but she’s smiling in that way that tells me I’ve undone her a little, and she’s perfectly fine with it.

    “Another five more minutes,” she whispers into the small space between our lips, her voice raspy with sleep and something sweeter.

    I press my forehead to hers and close my eyes, pulling her even closer. “However long you want, Cupcake,” I breathe.

    And I mean it. God, do I fucking mean it.

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    ** Cade POV **

    An hourter, the smell of freshly brewed coffee hits my senses before I even clear the bottom of the stairs–strong, sharp, and grounding in that way only Hunter’s early- morning rituals manage to be. I let out a half–groan as I stretch one arm overhead and scrub the sleep from my face with the other, already grinning like an idiot before my

    brain finishes catching up to why.

    She’s here. iReally /ihere.

    And somehow, it already feels like she’s always been. Like this house had a La–shaped space waiting all along, and now that she’s filled it, everything else just…clicks.

    Hunter stands at the counter like he’s in a knifemercial. He’s focused and precise in his movements as he’s slicing fruit like someone announced a formal breakfast this morning, but forgot to mention it to the rest of us.

    Xavier is propped against the double–door fridge, sipping his coffee that’s so ck and bitter it could be ssified as a war crime. He watches us all like a self–appointed

    guardian of roommates.

    And in the middle of the room, barefoot and with hair a half–wild halo around her face, drowning in a hoodie that most definitely isn’t hers, is our La.

    She’s flipping pancakes with the careful precision of someone who’s faking confidence

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    Chapter 101: AJ & Cade POV

    and hoping no one notices. But I notice.

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    Especially when one goes rogue, falls off the spat, andnds on the counter instead of the te. She huffs augh under her breath, her cheeks warm with amusement, and my heart does something I probably shouldn’t admit to before coffee.

    I pause next to the stairs longer than I need to, just watching her and breathing her in.

    She fits. God, does she fit. Perfectly.

    I shove off the stairs‘ banister, wandering into the kitchen like I haven’t just had an out- of–body experience about an auburn–haired girl and a reprobate pancake.

    Hunter doesn’t even look up as I swipe a piece of apple off his cutting board. “You’re useless,” he says, his tone t.

    I grin and say impishly, “Only when I can afford to be.”

    Xavier doesn’tment. He just continues to sip his coffee with a slow, judging blink as if he’s already over all of us and our early morning shenanigans.

    La spots me reaching for one of her pancakes and brandishes her spat at me like a

    weapon.

    “Touch my pancakes and you’re eating the burnt ones.”

    I clutch my chest, full drama queen as I say, “usations, and betrayal? In my own home? Before breakfast has even been served?”

    She rolls her eyes, but her mouth quirks, and damn, that fucking smile? That smile knocks the air out of my lungs like it’s got hands.

    I slowly step in behind her, slink my arms around to her stomach, and let my chin rest lightly on her shoulder, not caring that Xavier groans in protest behind me.

    “Morning, Sunshine,” I murmur, my voice just rough enough to brush against her skin like it’s meant to stay there at least for the rest of the day.

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    Chapter 101: AJ & Cade POV

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    She slowly turns her head toward me, and catching me off guard, she pecks me lightly on the lips. “Good morning, Cade,” she purrs at me.

    Dangerous, I think again as I struggle to pull my gaze from her luscious lips. This girl is dangerous.

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