Chapter 8 : Tonight, at Nine

Raven woke up from a deep, deep sleep, the luxury sheets bundled around her sticky, naked body like a cloud. She felt last night in every inch of her. Her muscles had the loose, pleasant sense of exhaustion, and the faint weight of a hangover hung suspended in her skull.

Beside her in the massive bed was… empty space. Kade was gone.

She couldn’t say she was very surprised; Kade hadn’t struck her as a breakfast-and-conversation type. Still, there was a vague sort of sadness about waking up alone, in the aftermath of all that… that…

What could she even call it?

Her college boyfriends had been either gentle and exploratory or eager and energetic. But Kade—he was something else entirely. Something she didn’t know quite how to think about. The unspoken dominance he communicated through his touch, the powerful flex of his muscles that left no space for argument, for challenge. She felt the shadow of that force, pressed against her skin, on her hips.

As she rolled out of bed, she f