Chapter 9 Sharing Space
SHARING SPACE
The moment we stepped into the corridor beyond the club, his world felt different.
It felt more human.
The air here was cooler, calmer somehow. The distant thrum of the club reduced to a dull vibration through stone walls as Wye guided me steadily down the corridor. My hand firmly in his, as if he feared I would suddenly try to run at any second.
His fingers were warm around mine, the grip firm without being restraining, yet I knew they would tighten the moment I tried to pull away from him.
Because every time my thoughts began drifting somewhere dangerously complicated, the subtle pressure of his hand seemed to tense just slightly.
It was as though he could feel the exact moment my nerves threatened to spiral.
Which, unfortunately, they were doing rather frequently after everything that had happened since first walking back into his club. Our kiss being at the very top of that list. And yes, I knew that shouldn’t have been a priority after all the magic mojo with Bo but try telling my girly parts that.
Apparently, kissing the terrifying ruler of a demon realm in the middle of a nightclub had been something my brain was perfectly capable of processing in the moment.
Now, however, it seemed determined to revisit that fact with relentless enthusiasm.
Especially knowing we were now walking back to his bedchamber.
The kiss.
The memory surfaced again with irritating clarity, vivid enough that heat crept slowly up the back of my neck despite the cool corridor air. He had kissed me, multiple times in fact, although none had been as intense as the first one in his office. And I had been more than willing.
The kiss hadn’t been hesitant or uncertain.
Quite the opposite. He had claimed my mouth like he had been thinking about doing so ever since the first time he laid eyes on me.
Although I also knew how dangerous it was to fixate on such things.
As there was still so much of his world I didn’t understand.
This Siren business being only one of them.
And as for what the future held for Bo and me, well, that was an answer that scared me the most.
The uncertainty was almost crippling.
His hand tightened slightly around mine once more.
The subtle shift was enough to pull my attention back, and my fingers flexed slightly in his without thinking.
And the reaction was immediate as Wye’s thumb brushed lightly across the back of my hand in a slow, absent motion.
The subtle gesture carried a quiet reassurance that made my thoughts stumble slightly before settling somewhere far less sensible.
“You are thinking very loudly,” he murmured beside me, and my head turned toward him automatically.
“I am not,” I lied, and the faintest hint of amusement touched the corner of his mouth.
“You are,” he replied quietly, the annoying certainty in his voice that did absolutely nothing to help my case. I narrowed my eyes at him, the defensive response arriving far quicker than my ability to stop it.
“You can’t possibly know that” I argued.
“Can I not?” he replied in a teasing tone, ignoring my frown completely and answering it with a knowing smirk instead. In other words, being utterly frustrating and handsome whilst doing it. Which made an even more annoying combination in my book.
“No, unless of course, you’ve suddenly developed the ability to hear other people’s internal monologues,” I countered, lifting my chin slightly.
His gaze drifted toward me briefly, pale eyes glinting faintly in the low corridor light before returning to the path ahead.
“I have no need to hear your thoughts,” he said calmly, making me panic internally, wondering whether he could.
Goddess, I hoped not! Or I had no idea how I would ever face him again.
Especially not if he caught even the faintest hint of the dirty thoughts I’d been having about him these past few days.
“Your entire face announces them for you,” he added, and my stomach flipped.
“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” I grumbled.
“If it helps, your pulse tends to betray you as well,” he added, laughing when he saw my face and just how unhelpful that was.
His laughter faded into the quiet corridor, though the faint curve of his mouth lingered as we continued walking. I resisted the urge to glare at him properly. Mostly because doing so would require looking at him again, and I had already established that this was a terrible idea.
Instead, I focused on the corridor ahead. Unfortunately, that only reminded me where we were going. The further we walked, the more my earlier confidence slipped. The quiet stretch of hallway eventually revealing the dark wooden door waiting at the end of it.
And the moment I saw it, my stomach tightened.
“So,” I said lightly, mostly because the silence was making me even more nervous. His gaze shifted toward me almost immediately, glancing down at me over his shoulder.
“So,” he echoed as if sensing my discomfort and this time being amused by it because he knew why. I cleared my throat softly, forcing my attention forward again as the corridor stretched toward its end.
“I think this is the part where you walk me to the door, say something charming and mysterious, and then kiss me goodnight. You know, before disappearing back into your demon kingdom to brood dramatically about ancient prophecies,” I said, feeling slightly smug at my witty comment and nodding once toward the door ahead as though the explanation were completely obvious. But for a moment, he said nothing.
The quiet focus of his attention settled on me again, that same thoughtful intensity lingering in his eyes as though he were studying the exact reasoning behind my assumption. Then the faintest hint of amusement returned to his expression.
“I see,” he replied, if you could even count that as one.
But by the time he said it, we had already reached the bedroom door.
And with nowhere further to walk, I slowed before finally stopping altogether.
For a moment I hesitated, then turned to face him properly, lifting one shoulder slightly as I gestured lightly between us.
“Well…” I began, before pointing out,
“It does seem like the polite way to end the evening, don’t you think?”
“And what if I have no intention of ending the evening? What then?” The question wasn’t surprising coming from him, yet it still drew a quick breath from me. Now all I had to do was figure out how I was going to answer that.
Of course, it didn’t help that the moment he took a step forward, I instinctively took one back.
Then another.
Until finally, the cool wood met my back, and I realized I had been gradually edged right up against it. Something Wye looked far too pleased about.
“Well?” He asked expectantly and with a knowing smirk that said he knew exactly why I was so nervous. So, I took a deep breath and braved to say,
“So does this mean no goodnight kiss then?” For a heartbeat, he simply watched me.
Then he stepped closer, and the movement was slow enough that I felt the shift in the air around us.
Another second later, and I properly registered that the distance between us was disappearing.
My back was suddenly very aware of the solid door behind me, leaving very little space between us as he lifted one hand at first. One he placed at the door just above my head, so he could lean his body closer to me.
Then, with his other hand, this rose to my face. His fingers reached out to brush lightly beneath my chin, tilting my face upward just enough that avoiding his gaze became completely impossible. And my pulse betrayed me immediately.
“Oh, I will kiss you,” he said quietly, the faintest hint of amusement touching his voice, and hope flickered before I could stop it.
“But you are mistaken… if you believe it means goodbye,” he continued calmly, his thumb resting briefly against my jaw as my stomach flipped. Then with one last smirk, he lowered his lips to mine and…
Kissed me.
And just like in his office, there was nothing hesitant about it. His hand shifted slightly, steadying my chin as his mouth claimed mine with quiet certainty. The kiss was deep enough to steal the breath from my lungs before I had any chance to protest… not that I would have.
It was slow at first, deliberate in a way that felt almost dangerously confident.
As though he had already decided exactly how the moment would unfold.
His lips moved against mine with a heat that spread far quicker than it had any right to.
It sent a shiver down my spine as the firm pressure softened into something far more lingering.
My fingers curled instinctively into the front of his jacket as the kiss deepened.
The world narrowed to nothing more than the steady warmth of his mouth, and the quiet control in the hand still cradling my jaw.
The longer it lasted, the more impossible it became to think about anything else.
Every lingering second only seemed to blur my thoughts further.
Until the corridor, the door behind me, and every sensible reason I might have had to step away dissolved completely beneath the firm certainty of his addictive touch.
The taste of him was enough to scatter my thoughts entirely before he finally pulled back.
For a moment, I simply stared up at him, and he studied my face for a heartbeat longer. As he was clearly satisfied with the effect he had on me, and the spell I felt he had woven around me.
Then his gaze drifted briefly toward the door behind me before he rumbled out the rough command,
“Now open the door, Eliza.”
The quiet demand lingered between us for a moment longer than it should have. Not because I hadn’t heard him. But because my brain had decided that this was apparently the exact moment it wanted to stop cooperating entirely.