Chapter 5
Evelyn
“I should leave,” I whispered. It wasn’t a plan, just a trembling instinct. A plea for distance my body didn’t believe in.
“I’ll drive you,” Alexander said.
“I can—”
“I said I’ll drive you.” The finality in his tone slid through me like a lock turning. Not cruel. Not coercive. Just… absolute. A man who didn’t repeat himself unless he meant it.
The car was silent at first, the kind of silence that throbbed.
Streetlights streaked gold across his jaw.
The city murmured outside the windows, far away and irrelevant.
Then—his hand found mine. Large. Warm. Unyielding in a way that made my breath trip.
“You’re still shaking,” he murmured, thumb brushing my wrist like he was trying to steady a pulse he had personally wrecked.
We stopped at a red light. Time held its breath.
I turned toward him just as he leaned, and our lips met in the middle.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t exploration. It was a claim, a fault line breaking open, a kiss with teeth hidden beneath restraint.
His hand rose to my jaw, holding me there, deepening the moment just enough to tell me he’d thought about this—wanted this—far longer than tonight.
My fingers curled into his suit jacket, helpless to anything but the pull between us. When he finally broke away, his breath dragged across my mouth.
“I’m taking you home,” he growled—quiet enough to be private, rough enough to undo me completely. Heat rolled through me in waves.
“Good,” I whispered. Not brave. Not clever. Just honest. Because it was already too late to pretend, I didn’t want whatever happened next.