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Up until I went to move, only to find resistance in the form of Ariana’s leg flung over mine and her head on my abs.

She’d stayed.

And now, here she was, sleeping right next to me in my bed.

Her amazing golden waves were all over my torso as well, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and running my fingers through them.

“Morning,” she murmured, startling me.

“How long have you been awake?”

“Since you started shifting around moments ago.”

“You slept in my bed? Stayed the whole night?”

“Well, you wouldn’t let go of my hand.”

“Why didn’t you just pull it away, or use a spark of your magic?”

“I realized I kind of liked it. Then I settled into the bed and the next thing I knew, I was falling asleep next to you.”

“Huh.”

“That’s all you have to say about the matter?”

I grinned down at her as she lifted her head to look at me. “You didn’t want to leave me.”

“Fine. No. I didn’t.”

“This honesty and non-shutting down thing with you is definitely going to take some getting used to.”

She went to get up. “If you’re going to be an ass about it—”

I was on her in the next second, rolling her beneath me, my hands slapping down either side of her head, and my thighs straddling her.

“I love that you’re here. I love that you stayed the whole night with me, that you’re being so brave and opening up, letting us in. I heard you that night outsidePolaris,and I swear to you that we’ll fix it, that we’ll find a way for your life to actually be your own.” I reached out and stroked her soft cheek as she gazed up at me in a mixture of surprise and adoration. “We’ll fix everything. Together. You’re not alone anymore.” I smiled sadly. “You never really were, Ari.”

Her enchanting electric-blue eyes shone at me.

“Thank you.”

In the next second, she was flipping us, so that she was the one straddling me, her fingers weaving with mine either side of my head. “I like when you call me that.”

“Ari?”

“Yeah. It’s a callback to a simpler time. When there were no walls between us.” She ran her hands over my pecs, eliciting a deep groan from me at her heated touch, and the way even just her fingers on me was so fucking consuming. “And it’s also an indication that you’re at your most pleasant—it’s your sweet side coming to the surface, all the kindness and compassion, and love that you bury most of the time. It’s the sign of it breaking through.”

“Normally, that would have you running.”

She frowned down at me. “Is that why you took to burying it?”

“Partly. But I also realized that being too emotionally open could make me too vulnerable.”

“You see, though? You see the issue of not doing that in what’s become of me, right?”

“I do,” I admitted.

“For the record,” she said, trailing her fingers down to the waistband of my boxers, the glorious sensation making me undulate beneath her. “I like all sides of you.” She tugged and pulled my boxers down to my thighs. “Even when you’re being your most insufferable, it’s actually a challenging experience. Kind of makes me feel alive.”