ient Roman architecture had been entirely eclips

re oppressive, and Julian Vance significantly more intolerable. We had developed a deeply exhausting, highly synchronized rhythm of mutual avoidance. If I was in the ki

ctural feature of the loft that re

balc

f a furnace. Maya had abandoned me for the air-conditioned sanctuary of a local museum, leaving me alone in the sweltering apartment. De

past my window and ran straight in front of Julian's bedroom glass, completely uninterrupted. There was no barrier. No wall. Just a single, shared sheet of stone. Y

nt violation o

ough," I mutt

the balcony. The stone was hot beneath my palms as I measured the exact halfway point between our two windows. With the precision of a seasoned surveyor,

work. A bright, neon-blue border line now cleanly divided the stone ledge. My

ty appraisal, Clark, or did

aritone made my shoul

tiny, steaming white ceramic cup of fresh espresso. Today, he was actually wearing a shirt-a simple, charc

blue line, tilting his head as his icy eyes tra

g as tall as my frame would allow. "You stay on your side of the blue line, and I stay on mine. I

managed to grate on my last nerve. He took a slow, del

warlord," he teased, his lips curling into that effortless, infuriating smirk. "What happe

te it," I fired back, refusing to back down. "This is about basic respect, Ju

drop, slowly tracing the line of the blue tape again. A da

nst my ribs as his large frame cast a shadow over my side of the led

, he hovered his hand directly over the bright blue masking tape, lower an

recisely dead center on

ce between us. He leaned his hip against the railing, tilting his head up to look at me through his dark curls. "An i

us crimson. I stepped up to the line, looking down at the cup, then

he challe

he espresso blending with the clean scent of his cologne. The proximity was diz

ushed the porcelain, Julian's hand clamped gently around my wrist. His grip wasn't tig

tion of a second before snapping back to my eyes, his smirk softening in

e let me go, though his fingers trailed lightly against m

stepped back a full pace into the relative safety of my own window frame, desperately trying to

across the blue boundary line. It slid three inches into his territory, the dark liquid

m teasing amusement to something entirely unreadable. He didn't look angry; he looked ca

ened up, leaning his forearms against the black wrought-iron railing and looking out over the bustling cobblestone alley

one, mirroring his posture against the railing while keeping a strict twelve inches of distance from the blue tape.

, a faint, self-deprecating smile touching the corn

ruthless approach to everything from exams to kitchen appliances. "You look at everything as a

revving scooter engines below. For a long moment, he didn't say anything. The silence stretched betw

irely too intimate for the middle of a Tuesday afternoon. "But systems are predictable, Aver

s icy blue eyes softening just enough to make

the bright blue masking tape stretching between o

he heavy wooden front door inside the apartment creaked open. The loud, cheerful sound of Maya hummed through the livi

y returning to his lips like a shield. He stepped backward into hi

smoothly. "Try not to obsess over the b

he blazing Roman sun, staring at a line of blue tape that suddenly felt comp