LOGINLucien He’d blurted it out. He didn’t know when the words left him until she turned, her brows slightly furrowed and her lips parted, in surprise. But he’d meant it. Every last word, from somewhere deep inside him that didn’t want her to go back to Shane. That couldn’t bear the image of her pale, shaky, and fragile, trying to walk to that door, to finish a stupid shift. “You want me to say?” She echoed the words. Lucien rubbed the back of his neck, losing his usual edge for a moment. “You said it yourself,” his voice was rough, “you don’t get enough sleep in your house. If you’re going to come into work tomorrow—without having everyone asking you if you’re okay—then you need to get some sleep.”“Unless—“ he lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug, “—you’re fine with Belinda babysitting you. Because I’m sure she’s heard the news by now that you fainted.”Eveline paused, with her fork raised absently, the argument that was forming between her brows smoothing out. She huffed silent
Eveline Eveline opened her eyes slowly, waiting for the headache that usually followed—the sense of impending doom and the acidic bile that made her throat feel raw. She waited. And waited. Her head was light, her stomach didn’t feel like a gaping, yawning pit, and—She placed a hand to her chest. Her pulse was normal. She sat up quickly, glancing around to make sure she’d woken up in the right place. The memories didn’t take time to flood back. The hospital. Fainting. Waking up and arguing with Lucien. Then the elevator…what happened after that? She shook her head slowly, chewing on her bottom lip, but her brain only had blanks to fill. The one thing she knew, though, was that she wasn’t at home. She was in his house. He didn’t take her back into the hospital after she fainted. Why? Her balance felt a little unsteady as she swung her legs over, but she got to the door without a problem. The smell of warm, cooked food made her stomach grumble loudly, but Eveline stood at the
Lucien He wanted to say something. His jaw ground until he could feel his teeth cracking, watching her walk to the door with a slight limp, a hand gingerly placed on her stomach. It wasn’t his place. It was the same thing he’d been telling himself for the past few days, even though he’d stopped the elevator more times than he could count, on her floor, without meaning to. But he couldn’t. He told Shane the truth—he wasn’t the right person for Eveline. Even if she wasn’t engaged to Shane and she wasn’t his brother’s daughter-in-law, he didn’t deserve someone like her. And if she found out the real truth, the one he was hiding from everybody, she would hate him for real. Lucien wasn’t sure he could live with that, so it was better for her to push him away now. Still—When she stumbled by the door, he was striding across the room in the blink of an eye. He halted when she straightened, his fingers digging into his skin and his knuckles cracking. “Miss Storm.” A stern voice echoe
Eveline “…and before you tell me that you’re okay,” Nurse Belinda stopped Eveline before she could speak, pulling her into the nurses' station and sitting her down. She stood in front of her with a stern tone that hid the worry in her eyes, her arms tightly crossed. “I want you to remember I’ve known you for a very long time. I was there when you were running around and bruising your elbows because you thought you had superpowers.”The corner of Eveline’s mouth tugged with a smile despite how shitty she felt inside. “But I did manage to land properly when I fell from the second-story balcony.” Nurse Belinda tutted. “That’s the story you told your parents, because you didn’t want them to know you broke your arm. You were screaming your little head off when they finally brought you into the ER.” Her face softened into a warm, maternal smile as she sighed. “What’s going on, love? You missed two days of work. And in the last week, you haven’t made it down here. Not even once.”“It’s b
Eveline Eveline walked outside the hall, through the side entrance, stopping instinctively by the hedges. Her cheeks colored as her thoughts flooded with the—memories? It wasn’t so long ago that she had Lucien’s thighs trembling and his hips thrusting against her mouth, while he tried not to fist her hair tightly. A thrill ran down her spine as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down a cheeky grin. She liked it. If she was being honest, it felt exhilarating—the thought of almost getting caught, of someone walking in on them. In the elevator, in the empty room at the hospital and now, in the open with over a hundred people just out of earshot. She never did any of those things with Shane. He was her first love—and she had no idea what to do with the butterflies she felt for him, so she let him lead the relationship. She convinced herself that as long as she was with him, she was happy. The small things didn’t matter, because at the end of the day, Shane Roswo
Eveline “Where did you go? I’ve been looking for you for an hour.”Eveline smoothed her dress as she walked back into the hall, ignoring Shane’s questions. She wasn’t obligated to give him answers, and her legs were still shaky from…Well…“There’s a leaf in your hair.” Her breathing caught when he spoke, but she stood still as he reached up to remove it, holding it between his fingers with a confused frown. “Were you in the garden? I walked past it, calling your name.”She heard him alright. When she was clinging to Lucien’s hair, with her leg hooked over his shoulder and his mouth was doing wicked things to her. And she heard him step out a second time, while she was on her knees…her mouth busy doing other things. The look on Lucien Roswood’s face as her head bobbed up and down, taking him as far back in her throat as she could—was euphoric. The corner of Eveline’s mouth twitched with a secretive smile as she stopped listening to Shane, walking away. “Wait—Evie.” He jogged to
Eveline wasn’t sure how she got from the bar to this spacious, luxury high-rise apartment with the glass walls that overlooked the city’s skylight. But the stranger standing in front of her was looking at her like he wanted to devour her whole. “Something tells me this isn’t something you do on
Lucien Lucien paused at the nurses’ station, sliding the patient file into its slot. “Dr. Roswood.” “Belinda.” he nodded, curt but polite. “How’s the night shift treating you?” Nurse Belinda shook her head, exhaustion etched into the lines of her face. “Like a circus on fire. Two vomiting episo
Eveline The jump scare in the hallway that made Eveline flinch as she hurried down, glancing at her phone and praying she wasn’t late to work, was Shane. She stepped back, with her hand pressed to her chest. “Jesus. You scared the shit out of me. Wait…” she frowned, her mouth twitching to one
Eveline The key turned with a muffled click, a sound drowned by the one that stopped Eveline cold in the foyer. It wasn’t the television as she’d thought. It was a low, rhythmic wet sound, punctuated by a sharp guttural gasp she knew intimately. His gasp. Her overnight bag slipped from her numb







