Chapter 2

[Elara’s POV]

I leaned forward and took my opportunity to not only kiss his lips but to begin a long, sensual trail down his chin and neck. Feeling him tense beneath my touch felt like successfully passing all of my exams.

As my lips passed over his collarbone, I faintly heard his breath catch in his lungs. I couldn’t help but smile in sheer triumph. His hold on me tightened to a near-punishing grip. But it wasn’t enough to make me stop.

My hands grew more daring. While one of them cupped his strong jaw, the other played at the neckline of his shirt. The man tried to evade my growing advances, but I latched onto him like my life depended on it.

“Stop,” he hissed quietly, enough for only me to hear.

Undeterred, I slipped my hand within his half-open collar and practically melted at the solid muscle beneath. The backs of my fingers lazily dragged down the rigid form of his torso. But before I could truly appreciate the exhilarating sensation, he snapped his hand around my wrist and tore me away.

“I said enough,” he snarled, roughly.

His eyes were blazing with furious anger and something else I couldn’t quite identify. Yet, my determination refused to be stumped. With my other free hand, I attempted to continue my previous task, wanting to capture that same luscious sensation from before.

The man was quick to capture that hand, too. He took both my wrists in his large hand and held my arms over my head.

Oh my...

I could feel my cheeks flush from the growing need that sparked in my lower abdomen. Given my lack of experience, I never once considered the idea of being restrained. It was rather invigorating.

Somehow, this position sent my mind reeling into a playful mess. He looked as though he was fighting to keep his eyes on my face and not let them trail down the rest of my body. I took my chance to lean forward and press myself against him.

Another angered noise rumbled from deep within his chest. I seriously thought that I’d made some kind of headway with this man. However, the next thing I knew, my entire body was shocked into frigid stillness by the unwelcoming feeling of ice water having been dumped over my head.

A startled gasp slipped past my lips. The man gripped my chin; his voice came out dangerously low. “Take a good look at me. Tell me. Who do you think I am?”

My mind was too foggy with drink to think straight. I squinted, trying to focus on his face.

Was he really Killian?

No...He looked different from the man I remembered. Older. Matured and aged like a fine wine that’s been waiting to be opened.

As a child, I was often left alone by my father. The useless and unattentive high school girls that he tried to rope into babysitting me always ditched me to head to some party, leaving me to become further withdrawn and socially hesitant.

But where Killian was concerned, he treated me differently.

He owned the house next door and was only ever home during the summers. The Killian Knox from my memories was just as handsome and severely off-limits. Although I could easily note that his shoulders were nowhere near as broad as the man’s who towered over me now.

The same Killian I had secretly admired for all those years was gentle, yet untamed. He’d been the only one to truly notice the quiet, neglected girl who lived across the alleyway. Killian actually took the time out of his day to speak with me about some of the books I was reading and even gave me a few of his personal recommendations.

His kindness and rare flickers of interest toward me never failed to lift me out of my desolate moods.

However, the man who had just saved me from a mean fall did not seem to fit the same image in my memories. No.

This Killian felt colder. Impatient. His brows furrowed in a deep scowl.

My Killian would never look at me with that icy stare.

A sudden rush of clarity raced down the back of my spine. The real Killian had vanished from society years ago without so much as a word of goodbye.

Staring up at him, my voice came out shaky. “W-Who are you?”

Instead of giving me a real response, the man merely looked irritated.

Due to my earlier ministrations, his collar had loosened, causing his dress shirt to fall open—completely exposing his well-defined pectorals. My eyes were instantly drawn to a familiar tattoo that covered the entire left side of him.

My brief moment of doubt has instantly vanished.

My breathing staggered as the awful feeling of sobriety washed over me. The whites of my eyes grew wide in frightening disbelief. All traces of my previous doubt had dissolved into pure dust.

The stranger in front of me was, in fact, no stranger at all.

Oh my God! What in the world have I just done to my father’s friend, Killian?!

--

The level of my embarrassment had grown to be so overwhelming that I was nearly certain I was going to pass out.

How on earth could I have allowed myself to become so carried away? This wasn’t who I was—I wasn’t some easy, desperate girl who openly threw herself at random strangers.

Only, this man wasn’t a stranger at all. Killian Knox had been the center of all my teenage desires. For years, I had imagined the day when he and I would cross paths again.

I would have presented myself to be the confident, mature woman that I had strived to become. But now...Oh, God. Now, there was no chance of that happening.

Killian would never think of me as a grown, mature woman, but rather a reckless flirt who couldn’t keep her hands to herself. The moment he’d let go of my hands, I covered my face in sheer mortification.

I took in a shaky breath and lifted my head to catch his stern gaze.

“Killian, I can expl—”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he stated coldly. “This is no place for you. The drinks that they serve alone aren’t suitable for someone like you.”

Someone like me...

Another wave of fierce emotion slammed into me. First Brad and now Killian...How many more times was I going to be inflicted with those exact words??

Just what exactly was so wrong with me? Why did it feel like everyone was determined to make me feel so different and obscure?

For some reason, Killian was the one who made me feel all the more insecure. It was no surprise that he still saw me as a child. I clenched my jaw and glared back at him.

“In case you’ve failed to notice,” I said tightly. “I am an adult.”

His eyes studied my face with a frown, as if he didn't agree with what I'd said. Yet he stayed silent and let his gaze drop. It lingered for a fraction of a second over my chest before he looked away entirely.

In the next moment, before I could even process it, he shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to me in silence.

My brows furrowed in confusion until I glanced down at myself to discover that the front of my dress had become completely translucent from the water that had been dumped over my head earlier.

The material clung to my body, making both my bra and the hardened peaks of my nipples visible.