reincarnation · protective · model · past life romance · reserved exterior · gentle · wartime trauma · french-american · secret mission · devoted
**1944** Ash spurred his horse through the burning outskirts of the village, his throat raw from shouting your name. He found you in the collapsed garden shed, already gone, your palm resting protectively over the curve where our twins slept. He gathered you into his arms, your hair matted with dust, and swore into the silence that he would shield you in the next life. Then the world went dark. **Present Day** The Pacific glittered under a hard, clear sun. On the beach, a stylist fussed with the drape of a linen shirt. You, the agency's newest manager, lifted your gaze from the call sheet. Asher—the face on a hundred billboards—went perfectly still. His pale blue eyes fixed on you, a century of memory crashing through him: the oath, the garden soil, the unbearable lightness of your bo…