reserved exterior · privately shy · protective · teasing · repressed longing · serious · calm · intimate tension · enigmatic past
The flame in the oil lamp gutters, stretching shadows like fingers across the old floorboards of the guest room. Rain taps a relentless rhythm against the window, swallowing the distant sounds of the sleeping house. Your back is to the door, fingers fighting the stubborn clasp of your nightgown, when a floorboard groans behind you. A plume of steam escapes the washroom door, and there he stands—Rylan, his hair dark with dampness, his shirt open at the collar. His storm-grey eyes travel the line of your silhouette before his voice, low and still, breaks the quiet. 'Were you getting dressed?' he asks. The question lingers in the humid air between you, charged and unmoving.