MasukThe low, crimson light washed over the room, through the villa’s tall windows, and there were shades of soft, cool moonlight with the color of spilled red wine.
The light, like having physical hands, had a warm caress with a whispering of forbidden desires.
Allison could feel the air, heavy with the lingering scent of mint and rose running through her nose, and filling her taste buds, and for a moment it looked like an escape from a truth that brought nothing sorrow to her heart.
She needed to escape the overwhelming pull of his presence. "Could you... Show me to the shower?" she asked, her voice filled with an unspoken conflict, a desire to commit a forbidden lust raged inside her, the excitement of being consumed by a desire she knew was wrong
“It's right over there, sweetheart,” he said —His voice sending shivers down her spine, the tone causing tremors of dark desire within her as she gets more sweaty.
She stepped into the shower, his voice still echoing right into her ears as a low hum filled with pleasure. As the water pours against her skin, it brings a moment of welcome relief. However, the fire of desire was still red-hot inside, unquenchable it was at that moment.
Her hands followed the shape of her curvy body as the water poured over her —a body that felt foreign to her now, longing to be owned by a total stranger.
Each droplet of water felt like a kiss, a caress that merely readied someone for a touch more intense. This shower didn't bring escape; instead, it was a burning coal that flamed it up.
Allison steps out of the shower with a towel on, still wrapped in clouds of desire —the steam still clinging tightly to her skin, the droplets of water glistering around her shoulders.
More telling than any words, his breath hitched –a sharp, audible intake of the air, the sight of her white hair made him pause, for a brief second, a flicker of something unreadable—recognition? confusion? —crossed his face.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. It was probably just one of the many low-life born around the city, he thought —the bastards of a Shelby or a Wenston, born on the streets and forgotten, as his gaze traveled on.
The gaze traveled from off her face and on down through the elegant curve of her neck, lingering upon the slope of her hips. His body's stillness was more charged than any action, even though he didn't move.
The silence was not a void; it was a living presence, heavy with an unspoken language of want.
He meets her with a glass of red wine, as he leans forward, gently sweeping her hair from her neck, and his lips tracing a path down her neck, “For you,” he whispered, as he pressed the cool glass into her hand.
Allison's hands trembled as they fastened on the glass of wine. He wrapped his hands around her curvy waist, drawing her into himself until her body touched his.
The intoxicating scent of him had erased all of Allison’s worries of duty and obligation, all that she could think about was just the taste of his own lips, just the feel of his soft touch, and also the desperate, burning need for this moment to consume her.
The night quickly turned into a blur of intense desire, a dream of desperate passion. Allison had given herself over to the moment —A stranger, a complete surrender of her body, soul, and spirit so complete it looked as if she had ceased to exist.
He eventually led her to the bed, and in a blur of touches and kisses, they made love. In that moment Allison felt alive with quiet moans escaping her lips.
For a few erotic hours, the relentless pull of her duty and her fears simply vanished.
Next morning, Allison wakes but feeling exhausted and wonderfully alive at the same time. She noticed she was alone, as she looked over the other end of the bed, and found a breakfast in bed just like how it happens in the movies.
She also noticed a piece of note right next to the night stand, she picked it up, with her heart pounding a familiar beat, as she read it.
Thank you for this beautiful, memorable night.
The memory of you will be something I hold on to. Be well —A stranger
Allison's POV
A bittersweet taste loomed inside me. I'd developed a crack in my heart because I wasn't going to see him anymore, still caught up in the flame of desire, I realized I had to get back to my hotel. My father’s driver would be arriving soon.
As I got to my hotel room, my mind was still a whirlwind. I couldn’t get the event of the night off my head. I held myself tightly, as if to feel his touch one last time.
A part of me was desperate for him, and I was consumed by the desire to have him close again, I could still smell him on my skin.
A few moments in the room, I heard a knock on the room door, it was a hesitant tap. I got to the door and found my ride back home at the other end, the driver had come to pick me up.
Although, a desperate feeling pulsed through me, a need to shove the door closed, turn the lock, and pretend I hadn't seen him, just to wait back and have a glimpse of the stranger one more time, but I realized I had no choice but to go.
As we drove out of the Citadel, I got lost in the fiery memory of last night, the forbidden affection, the heat of it, the reckless passion —it turned me on.
"Why can't I live an ordinary life?," I whispered, the question brought a bitter taste in my mouth, as the reality of my betrothal to Michael crashed back in.
The closer we drove to the house, the more my heart leaned backwards, toward the Citadel, toward the forbidden desire I couldn't dare speak about.
We finally got to the mighty Wenston’s Mansion, as I was walking right through the front door, servants and my father's men all greeted me with a smile.
But then, a sharp intake of breath caught my throat. He was there —The stranger.
My heart seized, the stranger was walking out of my house. He was there, dressed as part of father's men. I wanted the ground to swallow me up as I caught a glanced at him, my mind screamed aloud with a silent prayer: Please, let it be a dream..
My father came towards me and gave me a sweet welcoming hug, as he was glad to see me back home, yet I was lost in the denial of what I'd just seen. I eventually sat down, and could hear the talk of a dinner party that was supposedly meant for me.
But all I could think about was the man who had just left my house—the stranger from the Citadel
Allison's POV"Fuu...ck," I gasped, the sound escaping my throat as a soft, shuddering moan. He was fully focused on me. His tongue danced over me, expertly charting my depths. Above, his hands were relentless, kneading the fullness of my breasts as his fingers squeezed them with a practiced, deliberate softness.He abandoned the lower region and surged upward to my breasts. His tongue circled the circumference of one nipple, a teasing prelude, before he dove in, suckling the peak with the desperate greed of a newborn, while his fingers worked the other, pinching it gently until I cried out.I couldn't hold it in. A loud, unrestrained scream of pure pleasure tore from my throat, a sound fueled by the lust that utterly clouded my senses. The sheer volume was his only warning: he instantly stopped, his body going rigid against mine. His head snapped to the door. He noticed instantly that it was still slightly ajar. He pushed me aside, moving with the quick, predatory efficiency of a
Allison's POV"Call Luke!"The name was a thunderclap. A frantic, white-hot anxiety seared through my veins, instantly eclipsing the shock of the kidnapping. My mind seized up, unable to choose a reaction. One half of me felt the sickening guilt of dreading Michael's abduction, while the other half was consumed by a far more terrifying question: How was I supposed to breathe the same air as Luke without shattering every rule I was born to follow? His name was the most dangerous word in Fox City, and now my father had just yelled it across the room.Gerald didn't wait for a reply; he simply bellowed the order into the phone, his voice scraping against my raw nerves: Luke was to get down to the house right now. They needed to strategize the immediate rescue of Esme, his only sister, and Michael, my betrothed. The man I had risked my entire future to sleep with was now being summoned to save the life of the man I was sworn to marry. The entire city was collapsing into a single, absu
Michael's POVWe arranged the flight for the next morning: Botswana. That night, sleep was a luxury I couldn't afford. I was dying of nervousness, yet a counter-current of pure, reckless excitement surged beneath my skin. Every time I closed my eyes, I didn't see failure; I saw the $2 billion diamond and my father's redeemed smile. I finally passed out with a feverish certainty that this gamble, this one ridiculous, last-ditch effort, would fix everything.……We landed in Botswana in the early hours, the sun already a harsh, bright disc. After a seamless check-in at separate luxury hotels, Esme’s first instruction cut through the jet lag: "Arrange the meeting with your 'business friend,' Karem, for noon."By 2:00 PM, we were seated across from him. The polite formalities lasted all of sixty seconds before Karem laid down the first, non-negotiable term: "No security allowed."Esme’s back went ramrod straight. She didn't pause, didn't even consult me. Her response was a glacial, dec
Michael's POVEsme had agreed to meet me at The Truth Restaurant at 11:00 AM.I arrived at 9:00 AM, two hours early. I ordered a black coffee to keep my nerves down as I sat with my back to the wall, watching the door like a nervous guard dog.Esme didn't wait; the world waited for her. She wasn't merely time conscious; a delayed meeting was an insult she repaid in kind, usually by adding an extra zero to whatever I already owed her. Keeping her waiting was a sin that cost millions.At precisely 11:00 AM, Esme swept through the door. She didn't walk; she commanded the space. I sprang from my seat, rushing to usher her into the plush banquette. "The usual, ma'am?" I asked the waiter, who had materialized the moment her foot crossed the threshold. She didn't glance at the menu. She sat across from me—a picture of porcelain skin and icy control , her eyes, the treacherous venom of a Shelby, speared straight into my skull."Michael," she purred, the sound sharper than a diamond edge. "
Michael's POVI know my father’s trust was a thing I had spent, a currency I had no way of earning back with words alone. I'd burned this bridge a dozen times over—many failed business deals that had brought several furious disappointment from my father, stood between me and my chance at a redemption.I knew the moment I'd try to make a mention of the word "business deal," his face would become a mask of fiery disappointment. A burning fever was shot up in my veins, a panic-stricken certainty that this was the one—a voice inside me, hot as a furnace, screaming that this could be my shot to gaining my father's trust back. This particular deal had a promised chance of erasing the memory of every past failure with a flood of new money poured into the family moneybox and, in doing so, to wash away the stain on my name too.I felt my guts twisted with a powerful, consuming conviction, “this money is a sure way to pour millions into my family’s vault,” I whispered into the empty seats i
Allison's POV“You smell like roses,” he moaned—a low, croaky sound of pure pleasure escaped his lips. With his face buried down, his nose snuggling my neck, a soft, deliberate motion that caused goosebumps all over my skin, I shiver. A wild scent of roses, he realized—intoxicated him. I felt his hand having a possessive sweep across my body, as it slid down my back. His fingers, a fiery touch that slowly mapped every curve of my body before coming to rest at my hips. His lips find their way to my neck, as he devours the skin of my neck with his mouth—a searing line of kisses that travels to the swell of my chest. His hands continuously took possession—kneading my breast. I arched into his touch, a soft moan escaping my lips, a sound of surrender.. In the suffocating dark, I couldn't see his face, only the cold cloth of a concealed mask. But my heart screamed a name in silent, desperate hope: LukeThe thrilling terror of a moment stolen—a moment that could cost us both everythin







