Chapter 5

The air in the private viewing room of the planetarium was thick, heavy with the scent of ozone and old dust, but to me, it smelled only of him. The giant dome above us was a velvet black canvas, studded with thousands of tiny pinpricks of light that mimicked the Milky Way, but I couldn’t look up. I could barely look at anything except the man standing before me, his silhouette sharp against the projected constellations. We had escaped the main exhibit, slipping away from the murmuring crowd and the glowing maps of the solar system into this secluded alcove where the acoustics swallowed our breaths. It was intimate, claustrophobic in the best way possible. The lights had dimmed for a show that hadn’t started yet, leaving us in a twilight that felt suspended in time. He had pulled me close, his hand a firm, possessive weight on the small of my back, guiding me until my spine hit the cool, curved wall. "Look at me, baby girl," he commanded, his voice a low rumble that vibrated through my chest. I lifted my gaze, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. His eyes were dark, hungry, stripped