The wind curled off the sea like it was carrying secrets. Warm, wild, and alive â it lifted strands of Seraâs hair as she leaned on the balcony, watching the waves break against jagged cliffs far below.
The sky was molten. That brief sliver of day when everything glowed gold â even the shadows. And for a moment, the world felt hushed. As if the universe itself paused, holding its breath. She felt it before she heard him. The shift in air. The weight of his gaze. The slow, deliberate sound of bare feet on the stone floor behind her. Luca. He didnât speak. Just stepped behind her, close enough that his heat pressed against her back without touching. He finally spoke, his voice low, textured with sleep and want. âYouâve been quiet today.â âI didnât want to waste any words,â Sera said, turning her face slightly toward him. Her lips curved. âThey donât always come back.â Luca chuckled under his breath â one of those rare, soft sounds she secretly lived for. His hand brushed her hip. Light. Testing. Like he didnât want to break the spell of the moment, only bend it slightly in his favor. âYou keep standing there like that,â he murmured, âand Iâm going to start worshipping you like some sun-drenched goddess.â She arched a brow but didnât move. âYou say that like you havenât already.â That did it. He stepped closer, pressing his chest fully to her back, arms caging her against the glass as if the world beyond them didnât matter. And maybe it didnât. Not here. Not with the wind tasting of sea salt and freedom, not with the horizon melting into fire and light, and not with the ache that had been simmering low between them since this morning â since she stepped out of the outdoor shower in nothing but a towel and a smirk. âYou make it hard to be a gentleman,â Luca said against her ear. Sera smiled, slow and dangerous. âYouâre not a gentleman.â âNo,â he agreed, hands now skimming along her stomach, âIâm not. Not with you.â The first kiss was reverent. A brush of his mouth against her shoulder, his nose tracing the slope of her neck. She sighed, tilting her head, giving him more. And once she did, he took everything. Luca kissed like he needed to memorize her â slow, focused, unhurried. His fingers slipped beneath the loose fabric of her dress, sliding along warm skin and salt-kissed curves. She wasnât wearing anything underneath. As the last light of day slipped into dusk, they stood thereâhalf-clothed, half-mad with want. His hand found her thĂgh, then higher. Her breath caught. She leaned back into him as his mouth returned to her neck, his voice low and ragged. âIâm going to make you come with the sea watching.â Sera laughed, breathless. âIs that a threat or a promise?â He answered by slipping two fingers between her thĂghs. Her gasp was soft, almost swallowed by the sound of the waves crashing far below. But Luca heard it â felt it â like a match to dry kindling. His fingers didnât move right away. They just rested there, teasing, warm against the slick heat of her. His mouth was still on her neck, and when she tilted her head again, inviting more, he took it with a groan that felt like it came from somewhere deep in his chest. One hand slid up, curling around her throat â not tight, just there, a firm reminder of possession. âStay still,â he whispered. Sera laughed â breathy, smug. âAfraid Iâll break?â âNo. Afraid I wonât stop.â She bit her lip, but didnât challenge it. Didnât move. Just let her body respond â leaning further into him, hips twitching slightly when his thumb finally brushed against her clĂt. Just once. Just enough to make her legs tremble. Luca slid his other hand inside her dress, palming her brĂ©ast. His fingers found her nĂpple, already hard, and rolled it gently between his thumb and forefinger while his teeth grazed her neck. She whimpered â not just from the touch, but from the control. The slow, unbearable way he built her up, holding her hostage in her own skin. Her hips shifted, searching for more, but he stilled her with a low growl and a sharp squeeze to her throat. âI said still.â That voice. Low. Commanding. Like honey over gravel. âThen do something about it,â Sera said, barely above a whisper, her voice already wrecked. He did. Luca turned her gently but firmly to face him, backing her up until her Ă ss bumped the edge of the balcony. The sunset cast firelight over her cheeks, made her eyes look like molten gold. Her lips were parted, kiss-bruised from earlier, chest rising and falling like she couldnât quite catch her breath. God, she was beautiful. And she was his. He sank to his knees. Her breath caught. âLucaâŠâ âShhh.â His hands slid up the backs of her thĂghs, pushing the dress up with them. âLet me.â She clutched the railing behind her as he kissed the inside of one thĂgh, then the other â teasing, reverent. She was already trembling when he finally leaned in and pressed his mouth where she needed him most. Tongue slow, deliberate, savoring her like the finest wine in Italy couldnât compete. Sera gasped and moaned, head tipping back to the sky. Her knuckles turned white against the glass railing as his tongue circled her clĂt, lapped at her slowly, then fast, then maddeningly slow again. One arm looped around her thĂgh to anchor her, the other hand spreading her open for him like he didnât just want to taste her â he wanted to devour her. He was murmuring something into her skin, between strokes of his tongue â praise, filth, her name like a prayer and a curse. She couldnât hear the words clearly, but she didnât need to. The way his mouth moved told her everything. And when she finally broke â thighs shaking, voice catching on a shattered moan â he stayed there, holding her through it, mouth gentle again, until she was too sensitive to bear it. When he rose to his feet, lips slick and eyes dark with hunger, he looked like sin incarnate. âYou ready for me now?â he asked, voice wrecked. Sera didnât speak. She just grabbed his face and kissed him like she was going to drag him to hell with her. She was still trembling when he pulled away from her mouth, both of them breathless and ruined from just the foreplay. But Luca wasnât done. Not even close. He looked down at her, at her flushed cheeks, kiss-bitten lips, and the way her legs rubbed together unconsciously, aching for more. And then he looked over her shoulderâpast the edge of the balcony, to the shoreline below. Tourists again. Three of them. Maybe twenty meters down the cliff path. Close enough to hear a moan if the wind felt gossipy. A wicked thought passed behind his eyes. He met her gaze, voice low. âStay right here.â Luca spun her around slowly, chest to the railing now, arms braced on either side of it. The breeze kissed her bare thĂghs as he lifted the hem of her dress again, exposing her completely to open air. She gasped, but didnât stop him. Not even when he tugged her hips back, angled her just right, and dropped to one knee behind her again to press a final kiss between her legsâlike a benediction before the fall. She mĂłaned helplessly, already shaking. âYouâre still dripping,â he murmured, standing again. âYou want them to see you like this?â Sera swallowed hard. âYou wouldnâtâŠâ But she was already arching her back, presenting herself to him in the warm evening light. âOh, I would,â Luca whispered, lining himself up. âAnd so would you.â And thenâhe pushed in. She gasped, loud and shameless, the stretch of him stealing her breath and making her eyes roll back. His hands grĂpped her hips, hard enough to bruise, but his thrĂșsts were slow. Deep. Measured. Like he didnât care who heard or sawâonly that she felt every inch of him. The ocean roared below. A gull screamed above. And footsteps. Closer now. Sera clutched the railing so hard her knuckles went white, body rocking with each stroke. She turned her face slightly to the side and caught a glimpseâjust a blur of movement down the winding cliff path. A man. A woman. Another couple. Far enough to be safe. Close enough to make her pulse slam into her throat. Her knees nearly buckled. âFvckâLucaâŠâ âLet them see,â he growled in her ear, one hand snaking around to her front to rub tight circles against her clĂt. âLet them hear how this pretty little pvssy takes me.â She sobbed a mĂłan, chĂłking on it, hips jerking wildly now as he slammed into her just a little harder, still deep, still slow, but with more hunger. His other hand came up to grĂp her throat from behind, tilting her head back so he could kiss her cheek, her ear, her open mouth as she gasped for him. "You like the idea, don't you?" he hissed. "You love being fvcked in the open like a good girl with no shame." She couldnât deny it. Her mĂłans came faster now, more frantic, no longer caring if anyone heard. Her Ăłrgasm built like a storm inside her â sharp, brĂștal, beautiful. The sound of the ocean. His voice in her ear. The stretch. The threat of being seen. She came with a cry, her whole body trembling, hands barely able to hold her up as he fvcked her through it. And then he was following herâgrunting her name, fvcking deep, spilling into her while his hands branded her waist. They stayed there a moment, both draped over the railing like waves crashing into the cliffsideâsweaty, gasping, high off lust and the thrill of public sin. Below, the tourists kept walking. Above, they stood like gods whoâd gotten away with it. Sera laughed breathlessly, head tipped back against his shoulder. âWeâre terrible people.â Luca kissed her neck. âWeâll repent in the shower.â Pause. âNo,â she said, glancing back with a smirk. âYouâll fvck me in the shower.â He grinned. âYes, maâam.âPeople ran for cover outside, and umbrellas opened as the clouds spat out their beads of water. But the two individuals in the dark alley were dancing in the rain. They held hands, swaying slowly, their eyes fixed on one another."We always meet on a rainy day," Serge said as he pulled her closer to him.Alice giggled. "You know I love the rain.""Dancing while the rain washed away the blood of our fallen men," Serge whispered.It wasnât unusual for them to be in situations like thisâsomewhere they shouldnât be, doing something they couldnât explain. They were both the children of mafia leaders. Their families had been enemies for as long as either of them could remember, locked in a constant struggle to take control. Neither side had won, but that didnât stop them from trying._________đđđđđđđđđSerge was pinned down on the cold ground with Alice on top of him, pointing her gun at his temple."You really shouldn't be so trusting," she sneered in his face. "The world is a da
They met in the most clichĂ© of waysâCity Hall, rainy Tuesday, too many umbrellas and not enough patience.Solemn wasnât supposed to be in the room. She was an intern, technically. Assigned to the Mayorâs communications team to "gain experience and exposure.â The kind of line HR throws around when they want a pretty face in the background of press photos.But Solemn didnât blend in.She had a habit of wearing black pencil skirts a bit too tight, heels a bit too high. She had this way of walking into a room like she already owned it and Mayor Nathaniel noticed.He noticed the first day. She was laughing in the hallway with a staffer, lips painted dark like wine, clipboard hugged to her chest. She looked up. Met his eyes.Didnât look away.Most women did._____It didnât happen overnight. No, Nathaniel had discipline. Years of it. Built up over election campaigns and backroom deals, smiling at donors he hated and kissing babies he couldnât name.But Solemn?She cracked something in him.
The lecture hall smelled faintly of rain and wet pavement, the kind of damp chill that made people huddle into their jackets. Ezra stood at the front, nails painted a glossy black that caught the pale fluorescent light as he flipped through his notes. He wasnât dressed like most guys in their third year, today it was a soft cream cardigan that slid just off one shoulder, a pleated skirt that skimmed mid-thigh, and sheer tights that made his legs look like they belonged in some perfume ad. The outfit was deliberate, and from the way his green eyes kept flicking toward the middle row, it was clear who it was for.Adrian sat there, pretending to be absorbed in his laptop screen, but his fingers were still on the same line of notes for the past five minutes. He kept telling himself to focus on Ezraâs presentationâbut the way Ezra moved was a constant distraction. The way he leaned a little too far over the podium, voice dipping low at certain phrases, or the casual tug at his cardigan hem
Ayumi was never just a reader.Sure, thatâs how it startedâlate nights spent devouring smuts like secrets meant only for her. She had a taste for twisted dynamics, beautiful filth, and writing that left bruises.Thatâs how she found Laxon.He wasnât just a writer, he was a spellcaster. His stories felt like hands, undressing and claiming her between the lines. She commented. He replied. One thing led to another: private Docs, voice calls, shared moans. She became his muse.Until she wasnât.Life got in the way. No drama, just distance. Still, something between them never fully faded.Then came Hades.New name, rising fast. Unlike Laxonâs silk, Hades carved his words in stoneâbrutal, raw, honest. She messaged him the night she found his thread:âDo you always write like you're trying to ruin someone?ââOnly if theyâre brave enough,â he shot back.Hades didnât flirt, he challenged. Their chats were sharp, teasing, darkly intimate. He didnât pull her in, he dared her. And Ayumi stepped c
She shouldnât still be in the chapel. Not this late. Not alone. But Sister Eliana's guilt is a cage, and she kept locking herself back inside it. The white of her habit clung to her skin, damp with sweat and midnight heat. She was kneeling in front of the altar, again, praying so hard her voice trembled. Her eyes shut tight, hands clenched in prayer, rosary beads digging into her fingers until they left bruises. âDeliver me from temptation,â she whispered. âDeliver me from evil.â Sister Eliana's words moved silently across her lips like ghosts, asking forgiveness for thoughts she hadnât even acted on yet. Thoughts of him. đđȘđź. The one no one dared name. The one her mother superior told her not to dream about. The one whose name was purged from every holy book in the convent library. Sister Eliana begged God to take the thoughts away. He didnât. --- The first time he appeared, she thought it was a trick of the candlelight. The second time, she thought it was her soul brea
Callum walked into a silent house.No hum of conversation. No clatter from the kitchen. Just the steady quiet of a home deep into the night. He shrugged off his coat and tossed it onto the back of a chair before heading down the hallway. Their son was asleep in the nursery, he could hear the soft, content sounds of baby breathing through the monitor. He moved past the nursery and stopped at the doorway of their bedroom. The door was open. Warm light from a dim lamp spilled across the floor. Irixiah was on the bed, one arm flung above her head, blanket pushed to her waist. Her dress clung to her chest, soaked through with milk.That sight had started messing with him days ago.The first time heâd really noticed was after a late feeding. Heâd stood in the doorway, watching as she cradled their son against her bare chest, her robe half open. Her skin was flushed from sleep, hair messy, one breast exposed as their baby latched on greedily. The look on her face wasnât sexualâit was soft,