Chapter 29

Sunlight spilled in through the curtains as Sutton opened her eyes. It was so bright she knew it had to be late in the morning… the kind of brightness that pressed behind her eyelids and made the world feel slow and still.

Her body ached in places she hadn’t felt in months, the kind of delicious soreness that came from being truly claimed. She stirred beneath the blanket. Her body still ached, and one arm rested over her forehead, the other dragging the sheet up higher as she blinked a few times.

And then she felt him. Her arm brushed his side. She turned her head toward him.

Luca was watching her.

He was sat against the headboard, one leg bent beneath the blanket, the other stretched long beside her. He was naked from the waist up likely entirely naked, knowing Luca. Luca never wore anything to bed.

He lifted his hand and traced slow, absent-minded patterns along the curve of her hip beneath the sheets.

“Have you been awake for a while?” she murmured, v