Chapter 10: A Kiss

I blinked rapidly, my pulse hammering in my ears. I wanted to push him away, but my body… it wouldn’t move. It was like my muscles had locked up from the weight of his words.

He wasn’t even smiling to soften them—no hint of a joke.

“H-Huh?”

The corner of his lips curled, slow and deliberate, a predator’s smirk. His eyes narrowed slightly, searching mine like he could dig through my thoughts if he stared long enough.

I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly so dry it almost burned. My heartbeat was getting louder, faster—thud, thud, thud—until I was certain he could hear it, too.

“I still remember everything, Mika,” he whispered.

His breath slid across my cheek, warm and intoxicating, laced with fresh mint and the faint, smoky bite of whiskey. My knees trembled—not just from the words, but from the memory they dragged to the surface.

Then—his touch. Fingers brushing my cheek with the kind of care that made my skin ache. My breaths came uneven, shallow, like my lungs had forgotten how to wo