Chapter 37

• The first rays of dawn crept through the curtains, casting soft, golden stripes across the tangled sheets and bare skin. Elio stirred, half-asleep, half-clinging to the fragile peace that wrapped around them like silk. For a moment, the world beyond the four walls of the room did not exist.
• Luca’s arm tightened around his waist, a sleepy groan vibrating against Elio’s shoulder. His breath was warm, even, the kind of breath that spoke of safety, of something rare and fleeting. Elio swallowed hard against the unfamiliar weight pressing against his chest not fear, not anger, but something terrifying in its own right.
• Care. Trust. Something dangerously close to love.