LOGINShare
Chapter 5
publish date:
2026-08-07 16:55:36I grabbed Maya’s wrist before Leonardo was even out of earshot and pulled her down the hallway, into my room, shutting the door hard behind us.
“Okay,” Maya said, dropping onto the edge of the bed. “Spill. All of it. Don’t skip anything.”
I sat down beside her, hugging a pillow to my chest like it could shield me from how much this was about to embarrass me. “It felt real, Maya. Not like a normal dream. I could feel his hands. His mouth. I could feel the water still on his skin.” My face burned just saying it out loud. “I woke up and for a second I actually thought it happened.”
Maya’s mouth curved into a slow, wicked grin. “And? What did dream-Leonardo do exactly?”
“Maya.”
“I need details. For research purposes.”
I buried my face in the pillow and groaned. “He kissed my neck first. Then lower. I called him daddy.”
Maya slapped a hand over her mouth, but her shoulders were already shaking with laughter she was clearly trying to hold in. “Okay. Okay, wow. That is… that’s a lot, Amelia.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean that’s good.” Maya recovered, straightening, her expression shifting from teasing to something sharper, more focused. “That’s your body telling you something your brain is still too scared to admit. You don’t dream like that about someone you don’t want. Not like that.”
I pulled the pillow tighter. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It matters what I can actually have without getting thrown out on the street.”
“Then stop waiting for it to happen by accident.” Maya turned to face me fully, her voice dropping into the low, practical tone she used when she was serious about something. “You’ve been doing the soft, quiet thing. The shoulder slipping out of your sweater, the sad little balcony moments. That’s good. That plants the seed. But a man like Leonardo isn’t going to fall for subtlety alone forever. At some point you need to give him something he can’t stop thinking about when he closes his eyes tonight.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning it’s time to turn the heat up. A little.” Maya’s eyes lit with the kind of mischief that always meant trouble. “Wear something that actually shows what you’re working with. Walk past him in something soft and tight instead of soft and loose. Let him catch you stretching in the kitchen. Let your towel slip an extra second longer after a shower. You don’t have to throw yourself at him. You just have to make it impossible for him to look away.”
My stomach twisted, half nerves, half something warmer I didn’t want to name. “Victoria will notice.”
“Victoria notices everything,” Maya said. “So you get smarter, not louder. Small moments. Believable ones. Things that look like accidents.”
Before I could answer, a knock sounded at the door, three even raps, unmistakably his.
We both froze. I shot up off the bed so fast the pillow tumbled to the floor, smoothing down my sweater with both hands like that would erase every word that had just left my mouth.
“Come in,” I called, voice not quite steady.
The door opened, and Leonardo stood in the frame, still in his black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, looking entirely too composed for a man who had no idea what he’d just interrupted.
“I’m hosting a pool party this afternoon,” he said, his gaze flicking briefly to Maya before settling back on me. “Business associates, a few friends. You’re welcome to join, if you’d like.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out fast enough.
“We’d love to,” Maya said brightly, from somewhere behind me.
Leonardo’s eyes moved to Maya, one brow lifting slightly, then back to me, and for the briefest second something almost like amusement passed over his face. “Good. Two o’clock, by the pool.” Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
The moment his footsteps faded down the hall, Maya spun around, grabbing me by both shoulders. “Was that the same cold, unbothered billionaire everyone in the tabloids is terrified of? Because that man just knocked on your door personally to invite you to a party.”
“Maybe,” I said slowly, a small, disbelieving smile pulling at my mouth despite myself, “he likes me too.”
“Then this,” Maya said, already pulling me toward the closet, “is your opportunity. You do not waste an opportunity like this, Amelia.”
“Waste it how?”
“A pool party means swimsuits.” Maya was already digging through hangers, tossing aside the modest one-pieces Victoria had bought for appearances. “You need something that makes every man there forget how to speak. Something bright. Something that shows just enough that he can’t look at you for more than five seconds without thinking about it for the rest of the day.”
By the time two o’clock came, I stood in front of the mirror in a deep red bikini, the fabric cut just high enough on my hips to make my stomach flip every time I looked at myself. Maya had curled loose waves into my hair and lined my eyes just enough to make them look sleepy and warm rather than done.
“You look insane,” Maya said approvingly, adjusting one of the ties at my hip. “In the best way.”
I reached for the light, floppy linen jacket hanging off the back of the chair and pulled it on over my shoulders, letting it hang open, loose enough to move with me but thick enough to hide the raised, silvery marks along my back and shoulder blade. No one needed to see those today. Not yet.
Out by the pool, the afternoon sun sat high and gold over the water, glass in hands, low laughter drifting between Leonardo’s guests. I let the jacket slip slightly as I walked the length of the pool, unhurried, letting the sunlight settle warm against my skin, feeling more eyes on me than I was used to and, for once, not shrinking from it.
I found Leonardo near the far end, a drink in his hand, mid-conversation with a man in a linen suit. I didn’t look at him. I didn’t have to.
I felt the exact moment his conversation stopped.
I kept walking, slow and unbothered, letting the jacket slide another inch off one shoulder, and settled into a lounge chair in full view of him, tilting my face toward the sun like I hadn’t noticed a thing.
Behind my sunglasses, I smiled.
I had barely closed my eyes when a shadow fell over me, blocking the sun, and a voice I didn’t recognize spoke close to my ear.
“Well, well. Look who finally decided to show her face.”
My whole body went cold before I even opened my eyes.
I knew that voice.
Latest chapter
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 53
Leonardo’s POV“Speak,” I said.“Sir, I was running my usual review of the east corridor this afternoon.” He cleared his throat. “I almost skipped it. At 2:53, someone enters Miss Amelia’s room. The door was open. She had just stepped out with her friend. The person stays inside for about three minutes, then leaves. Quickly. Looking at the floor.”Three minutes. Long enough to cross a room, put down a piece of paper, and walk out again.“Who?”“One of the household staff, sir.” A hesitation. “I didn’t want to name her over the phone.”“Name her.”“Helena. From housekeeping. She joined the team last spring.”I s
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 52
Leonardo’s POVShe stepped inside, and I closed the door behind her.The click sounded louder than it should have. I stayed where I was, one hand still on the handle, and made myself look at her properly. She wasn’t flushed the way she’d been in the painting room. She was pale. Her fingers were curled around a small square of paper, and the knuckles had gone white.That was not the face of a girl who had come to tell me something sweet.I nodded once, slowly, the way I do when I’m reading a room. I opened my mouth to ask her to sit.“Someone left this in my room.”She said it before I could speak. She held the paper out to me with a hand that would not stay still, and I took it.It had been folded and unfolded so many times that the creases had gone soft. I carried it to the lamp. The handwriting was small and slanted and careful. Whoever wrote it had taken their time.I know where you slept last night. I
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 51
Leonardo’s POVI looked at her.I’ll tell you in your room.She had leaned toward me when she said it, her voice so low I almost had to read it from her lips. It was something she did not want to say here.“I hope there’s no issue,” I said, keeping my voice level.She didn’t answer right away. She bent a little closer over the table, as if the walls themselves might lean in to listen.“I’ll tell you everything,” she said softly. “In your room. After dinner.”Everything.The word settled in my chest and refused to move.I had a hundred questions, and every one of them was on my tongue. What was it? Why not here? Why not now? I swallowed all of them. Not with the staff standing
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 50
Amelia’s POVA horn blared somewhere outside.My eyes snapped open. For a second I didn’t know where I was. The room was dim, the lamp was low, and my neck ached from the way I’d slumped against the headboard. Something crinkled in my hand.The note.It was still there, folded and creased, my fingers wrapped around it so tightly it had gone soft at the edges. I had fallen asleep holding it. I had fallen asleep waiting for Leonardo.The horn sounded again, and I was off the bed before I could think. I ran to the window and pulled the curtain aside. Headlights swept across the compound, and the black car rolled through the gate, slow and steady.He was back.My heart did something stupid. It jumped, then stumbled, then started racing for no reason I could name.Calm down. Calm down, Amelia.I rushed to the mirror. My hair was flattened on one side. I smoothed it down and tugged at my top. I turned left, then right, then
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 49
Amelia’s POVI couldn’t stay still.I paced from the window to the bed, from the bed to the door, then back to the window. My bare feet slapped softly against the floor, the only sound in the room besides my own breathing. It was too loud. Everything felt too loud.Who could have put that note on my bed?My eyes kept drifting to it, that small folded piece of paper, innocent-looking, like it hadn’t just tilted my whole world. I turned away. Looked back. Turned away again.Should I call Maya? Tell her everything?No. She just left. She was sitting right here, on this very bed, laughing about something silly, not even an hour ago. Could she have…No.Maya would never do that to me. Never.I pressed my palm to my forehead and shut my eyes. The thought wouldn’t leave, though. It crawled back in, quiet and cold.Someone in the house.It had to be. Nobody else could have walked into my room without being stopped. No
Forbidden Touch: Taming my stepfather Chapter 48
Amelia’s POV“Something like what?” I asked, sitting up a little straighter, the warmth from a moment ago giving way to something more cautious.“Since you have come this far with him within a few days of Victoria’s absence, you need to be careful when she is around.” She said it slowly, deliberately, like she was choosing her words with more care than usual.“I know, but then Leonardo will not allow her to hurt me.” I said, though even as the words left my mouth I could hear how much I wanted them to be true more than I actually believed them.“Still, be extra careful. Play your game very well.” She said, holding my gaze for a second longer than necessary before leaning back, her tone shifting lighter again, the way it alway&z
You May Also Like
On My Professor's Bed
Xee write913.0K viewsThe CEO's Ex-Wife Is A Famous Doctor
LiLhyz4.1M viewsTriplets on Secret Mission
Lamour Toujours1.3M viewsHer Graceful War Song
Summer's Blaze996.1K viewsBound To The Ruthless CEO
Lerato R.Ngobeni216 viewsFOREVER HIS WIFE, NEVER HIS LOVE
Roselyn Peralta plazo45 viewsTHE WOMAN HE COULDN’T BURY
Dunni16 viewsMy Maid is my Missing Wife (Translated)
BITUING GRACIA'S113 views
