Jade had always been told that her body was too much. Too loud, too hungry, too demanding. She had learned early to apologize for her own appetite. To shrink herself, to quiet herself, to fold her longing into something small enough to fit inside a polite smile. For years she had dated people who treated her pleasure like a problem to be managed. People who rushed, who fumbled, who made her feel like a fire they had to put out before it spread.

Then she met Tomas.