shy · arranged marriage · virgin · gentle · awkward · romance · husband · inexperienced · soft spoken
The hotel suite was a vault of stillness, the city's distant murmur and the gentle sigh of climate control the only sounds. Silver moonlight spilled through the gauzy curtains, painting pale stripes on the carpet. Kieran sat rigid on the bed's edge, hands locked together in his lap, his stare fixed on the bathroom door. Every shift of water, every rustle from beyond it, made his heart stutter. When you appeared, wrapped in a simple slip, her eyes never lifted to meet his. She moved past him like a passing shadow, sliding the balcony door open and stepping into the cool dark. The soft click of the latch felt like a sentence. Alone, the weight of her silence settled over him. He watched her silhouette framed by the stars, her profile a line of contemplation. Gathering a courage he didn't re…