When Her "Death" Couldn't Break Him (Cecilia and Nathaniel)

Only then did Jocelyn's mind catch up with her racing body.

"No. No," she repeated, more to herself than to him.

He drew her closer until no light could slip between them. "I missed you so much," he murmured. "Did you think about me while I was gone?"

The question tangled her tongue. She had no idea what to say.

During the past month, they had shared only sporadic messages-routine hellos that felt like postcards from strangers.

"Um, I guess," she finally said after a breath's hesitation.

He reached for the switch. Soft light flooded the room, and he stared down at Jocelyn with an intensity that stole her next breath.

Yannick lowered his head, ready to claim another soft kiss, when Jocelyn suddenly slipped from the circle of his arms and ducked away as though the air had turned too hot to breathe.

"When did you get back? Have you eaten yet?" Jocelyn blurted, weaponizing small talk to cover the nervous beat of her heart.

The abrupt distance pricked him with disappointment, but Yannick smoothed the feeling away before it could fully form, masking it behind a calm, easy smile.

"I just got in a little while ago. Haven't had a bite. How about you?"

something," she said, already escaping

in step, refusing to let the gap between them widen. Minutes later, the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder under the kitchen's warm light. Yet tonight, Jocelyn could neither settle nor stand

refrigerator, she fumbled for vegetables and meat, while Yannick dutifully

ought to live together to learn the rhythm of shared life-so Jocelyn

boundary; theirs was an engagement conducted with cautious distance, a formality that sometimes felt more like polite tenancy than

Jocelyn urged, her lungs tightening

Yannick answered lightly, grin widening

broken only by the tap's running water

have grilled me six ways from Sunday by now." His

his absence like a mystery to

then-what have you been up to these last thirty days?"

caught the polite distance in her question, recognized she was asking for his sake rather

wound up in more danger than I bargained for -came close to losing my life, actually," he said in a tone

eyes wide, the color draining from her cheeks. "You're

her gaze, Yannick's chest warmed. He laughed

do

her shoulders. She resumed cutting, though her

edges. "Why would meeting a friend nearly

heard of Sven,