LOGINSophia’s POVHe had been pressed up against me, the feel of him carved on my skin, a burn that couldn’t fade. But that wasn’t the only thing that had burned deep in me, it was the fact that the dangerous yet fleeting nanoseconds had brought curiosity, and now, I had made a decision, one that could set my whole world ablaze.But I didn’t care.Not anymore.I smiled as I stared at the shorts I held in my hand, a gift from Kyla from two years ago when I had expressed an interest in working as a bottle model. Dreams I never actually acted on, and somehow, this morning, this pair of shorts was about to live another dream. “This should do,” I muttered to myself as I picked up the cropped tank top, the sheer fabric that I knew would cling to my skin like a mesh dress.What is the plan? You might ask. Easy, I was going to seduce Marcus. I needed to feel that forbidden burn that I felt last night. I needed to be sure that it wasn’t just an imagination. That I had felt it… him, his hunger fo
Marcus’s POVThe door slammed shut behind me, my back pressed against it as if I was running from a demon. With trembling fingers, I worked the locks, clicking them shut. “What the hell just happened?” I mumbled to myself as I ran my fingers through my hair.The first mistake had been offering to help, and the second, letting myself dwell in the moment. The minute my hand touched her exposed skin, my mind had gone numb, frozen in time, enjoying everything that had to do with her body pressed against mine.And when she fell, when her body… no! I didn’t want to think about it, but there was no way I could get the image out of my mind. She had been on my body, her chest pressed hard against mine.My length twitched, begging to be pulled out of the joggers I was wearing and touched. I stared at my hardened length, the glare doing nothing to tame it.She smelt divine. Coconut and jasmine, a combination I never knew could be poisonous. I felt that twitch again. I gritted my teeth, my fist
Sophia’s POVThe sound of the door closing caused my back to tense. My head turned to the door, my eyes meeting Marcus’s watchful gaze. Heat crept up my neck, his eyes lingering on my gym shorts — a pair that no one should see.“Welcome, I didn’t know you would be back so soon,” I muttered, hoping he didn’t hear how flustered I sounded. “How was work?”“Great,” he said in a gruff tone, rushing up the stairs as if he was being burned.I shrugged, fighting back the feeling that I was getting. If he was in one of those moods, I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it. We had been fine, the call we had earlier in the day was alright. It wasn’t hard getting back to the workout. Kyla had sent the link, said it helped clear the mind, and well, I guess it was working. That was until a certain person walked in and now — “No thinking, focus,” I hissed under my breath.Besides, with the mood he was back in, I knew that he wasn’t going to come down. I guess this would do. The stairs creake
Marcus’s POVMaybe I should have done something. Maybe I should have intervened faster. But listening to Diane say those words — watching the way Sophia’s eyes glistened —I knew I had been too slow to react.But this was the thin line — I couldn’t bring myself to actually hold her. In Diane’s eyes, she was going to say I was supporting her, taking a side. Of course, I was. Sophia didn’t deserve the blow-out she had gotten. But my intervention still felt like nothing at the same time. Diane had been cruel. Sophia had been broken… and me? All that I could think about was the kiss that almost happened.I had let myself dream, wondering what would have happened a second later if Sebastian hadn’t shown up. What her lips would taste like — would they taste like cherries? Ever since I knew the name of her lip balm, it had become an obsession that was slowly trying to tear me apart.My phone buzzed, the sound forcing me to tear my gaze from the computer monitor I had been looking at. The s
Sophia’s POVI shouldn’t be thinking about it, but I was — my mind stuck on a path it should never have been on. Lying in bed, my eyes fixed on the ceiling as I thought about what last night would have been like. We had been free, the way he had laughed, the way his eyes had taken me in as if he was seeing me. When his hands had cupped my face as if it was the most natural thing to do.“God,” I groaned, feeling that heat creep up my neck, spreading slowly through my cheeks. I turned to my side, pulling the bed cover tighter between my legs, the force causing it to bump against my core. My body trembled from the sensation. This was stupid, having the reaction all because of an almost kiss, but my body didn’t think about that. It just didn’t care. Because the more I thought about it, the more the feeling intensified, the more everything felt too strong to be ignored.He had been close, so close that I could feel just how hard his body was against mine. “Stop,” I whispered in a weak to
Sophia’s POV “Marcus?” I was hit with an instant cold, the warmth of his fingers gone, my body jerked, my heart hammering hard in my chest at the sound of the voice. I needed to act fast, do something that would make what almost happened look different. “Ouch!” I cried. Marcus frowned as he pulled away slowly, the spell between us broken. I knew it. I couldn’t push it. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice laced with worry. “My eyes — my lash was trapped between them.” He blew on it, his hand back to my face, holding me gently. But this didn’t feel like it. It didn’t feel like when he had held me with so much warmth. “I think it is gone now,” I muttered, watching a figure walk closer to where we stood. “Okay,” he hummed. He was the first to turn, smiling at his friend. “Hey, didn’t know I would see you around here,” he said. Sebastian didn’t look at him, his eyes were on me as if he was trying to figure out what was going on. “Hello,” he greeted, ignoring his friend. Marc
Marcus’s POVI held onto the phone tighter than I should have, as if it were an anchor keeping me afloat. We didn’t have much to say, and yet the call still felt heavy, too heavy.“Get it together,” I muttered under my breath, leaning against the chair as I thought about how much of a disaster the
Sophia’s PovIt was easier to say I was getting a job than to actually get one.I wasn’t sure of where I was going after being turned down by two galleries, but I guess it was easier to keep on walking than actually taking a moment to think about what had happened.The anger I felt earlier had slo
Sophia’s POVFor a second, I didn’t think about it, didn’t remember and suddenly the memory flashed, the humiliation, the smirk on her face. Her silent victory.Then I had to do something stupid, hug him, cling to him as if my life depended on it. I squeezed my eyes shut, “Great,” I grumbled, turni
Marcus’s POVMy head was a mess. It wasn’t because of Diane or the dinner.It was the tears and the hug— if anything, they made it all worse… and now I didn’t know how to react to it— seeing Sophia so broken, so sad.“For a minute, I didn’t think you would return,” Diane’s voice echoed through the







