In Love With - Ally Barker

"‘And then,’" she whispered, stepping closer to him in the narrow aisle, "‘the hero realizes the treasure was never the gold, but the girl with the ink-stained fingers.’"

As the sun began to bleed through the high, stained-glass windows, they walked out into the morning air—exhausted, ink-smudged, and finally, undeniably, together. In Love with Ally Barker

The playfulness vanished. The silence of the archives pressed in on them. Leo could feel his heart hammering against his ribs. "Ally," he breathed. "‘And then,’" she whispered, stepping closer to him

Leo had been "studying" for three hours, which was really just a cover for watching Ally navigate the stacks. She didn’t just walk; she moved with a quiet, frantic energy, her fingers trailing over book spines as if she were searching for a secret door. She was a journalism major with a reputation for asking questions that made professors sweat and a laugh that sounded like wind chimes in a gale. He was hopelessly, quietly in love with her. Leo could feel his heart hammering against his ribs