Chapter 49: Words Unsaid.

The Next morning,

Leonora woke to the pounding drum of a splitting headache, her temples throbbing as though they were protesting her very existence. She groaned, blinking blearily at the unfamiliar ceiling.

"Where... am I?" she mumbled groggily. Her gaze swept the room, taking in the rumpled sheets and faint smell of cologne that wasn't hers.

And then she saw him.

Edoardo lay beside her, his face serene in sleep, his bare chest rising and falling rhythmically under the sheets. Her brain stalled. Her eyes widened as they darted from his peaceful expression to the telltale line of the blanket barely covering his hips. Her pulse quickened in panic. 'Oh no. Oh no, no, no.'

She peeked under the sheets covering her own body and immediately clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream bubbling in her throat. 'I'm naked!'