Catherine sat on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest while Maximilian got the glass of water she had handed him after finishing it.
After setting it aside on the nightstand, he returned to sit beside her, and the room gradually settled into a comfortable silence. It wasn't the awkward kind that demanded to be filled. Rather, it was the silence of two people who trusted each other enough to think, to breathe, and to simply exist together without forcing words into every empty space.
"The interruptions might be a factor," Catherine finally said with a sigh.
She had spent the last several minutes examining her own thoughts while wrapped in Maximilian's embrace. Now that the initial embarrassment had faded, she found herself looking at the situation more honestly.
