Flicker of Truth

The warmth I felt was unfamiliar.

I stirred, the sheets tangled around my legs, the lingering scent of him wrapping around me like a second skin.

The early morning light seeped through the curtains, casting soft shadows against the walls. I shifted slightly, the ache in my body a reminder of the night before, of the way Alessio had touched me—not with desperation, not with possession, but with so