"I've been carrying that guilt for so long it feels like it's fused into my bones," she continued, her voice trembling with fifteen years of buried shame. Every word seemed to pull fresh heat of embarrassment to her skin, her cheeks burning deeper as the confession spilled out like a long-suppressed secret.
"Every time Ashley talks about how her dad abandoned us, it cuts me like a knife twisting in my chest. But I've never corrected her. Because telling her the truth would mean watching her entire world fracture. I'm terrified that if she knew it was me… she might stop loving me the way she does now."
She finally lifted her gaze to him. Her gray eyes were glassy with unshed tears and raw, aching vulnerability. A deep rose flush burned across her cheeks and down the delicate column of her throat. The weight of both her devastating confession and his unrelenting, hungry gaze left her feeling fully vulnerably exposed, every inch of her alive and aware.
