"It's called peace, Julian," she said softly. "When you stop trying to be what everyone else expects, you start to carry a certain weight. Some people find it heavy. Others…" she paused, letting her gaze linger on him, "…find it magnetic." "I'm definitely in the second camp," he murmured.
She moved through the room with the kind of effortless grace that only comes from decades of being comfortable in your own skin. Elena was fifty-two, and she possessed a depth that no twenty-year-old could mirror. Her skin was a rich, mahogany silk, glowing under the soft amber light of the jazz club, and her hair was a crown of natural silver-streaked coils. ebony mature
"Hard not to," Julian admitted, leaning in. "You have this way of making everything else in the room feel like background noise." "It's called peace, Julian," she said softly
Elena finally looked at him, her dark eyes bright with a mix of amusement and lived-experience. She wasn't interested in empty flattery; she’d heard it all before. She leaned back, the silk of her emerald dress catching the light. Others…" she paused, letting her gaze linger on