ALWAYS BEEN YOU Novel

After five years apart, they face each other with unspoken tension. She returns to find him unimpressed by her absence, questioning what more she could possibly say. His smile catches her off guard as he confronts her about leaving with another man, despite his pleas for her to stay. The way he calls her by her nickname, "Kitty"—something only he does—stirs emotions she thought she'd buried. As anger rises between them, he lays bare the truth of their connection: the intense excitement that seized her whenever he drew near, the breathlessness that consumed her, the mutual desire that burned between them. He insists this shared passion should have been reason enough for her to remain. Yet she chose to leave anyway, and now she stands before him again, unable to deny the effect he still has on her, even as she refuses to show how deeply his words wound her.