18

Chapter 18

Darcy’s Pov

Wanting to have her so bad, to press my lips on hers so bad, I followed her immediately. I caught up with her in the hallway.

Adrian moved faster on bare feet. She must have forgotten her slippers in the toy house as she ran off to escape me.

She moved as if she was running from something inside her as much as from me. Her hair flew behind her like a flag, her shoulders tight with panic. She had almost reached her door when instinct forced me forward.

Before she could step her feet inside her room, I called her to stop, getting closer just behind her, I placed my hand on her waist. Not rough. Not forceful. Just steady enough to keep her from disappearing behind that door.

She froze at once.

“Adrian,” I said, my voice low, carrying more plea than command.

She wouldn’t look at me. Her hand was on the door lock before she gently removed them. I felt her body tensed, and her breath was quick and uneven.

“Please,” I added softly. “Don’t run.”

Her pulse throbbed under my fingers. I could feel the tremor in her body, see the fight in her shoulders. She wanted to escape.

But she didn’t make a move, she stool still like I've succeeded. She paused, didn't enter her room and slam the door in my face.

That gave me courage.

“Look at me,” I whispered, leaning closer to her back as my chiseled chest touched her back.

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“You can,” I insisted. “You just don’t want to. If you look at me, you’ll feel what I feel. You’ll know I’m not imagining this.”

She gasped, and this time, she turned her face slightly toward me. Not fully, but enough that I could see her eyes shimmering with conflict.

“This isn’t appropriate,” she whispered. “We shouldn’t be doing this. I work for you. You're my boss. You’re supposed to be investigating me. Everything about this is wrong.”

I felt the words hit me, but I didn’t let go. My thumb brushed against her side, gentle. “Maybe it’s wrong. But it’s also real.”

She pulled back as if my words had touched a wound she'd kept hidden.

“You don’t understand,” she said,her eyes met mine fully. Her gray gaze was raw, just like Pink’s. Her stormy eyes were filled with things she never said aloud. “This… it destroys everything. It leaves you hollow. It ruins what’s left of you until there’s nothing but ashes.”

The pain in her voice ripped me from inside. I want to hurt the person who hurt her in the past and punish the person that had betrayed her. I held her gently, firm enough to keep her here with me.

“I’m not him,” I said, as I looked deep in her eyes to assure her.

Her lips trembled, and I thought she would give in and break down in my arms. But she resisted as tears gathered in her eyes.

“How can I risk it?” she asked, her voice breaking. “Pink needs me. She needs me, strong and stable. If I let someone in and they tear me apart again… I won’t survive it. I barely did the first time.”

Her words cut in like a blade. Again. She had already been broken once, betrayed, abandoned. No wonder she built walls. No wonder she found it hard to kiss me and she ran.

“Adrian,” I breathed, lifting my free hand to her cheek. My palm cupped her face with a care I couldn’t remember ever giving anyone else. “I can’t promise perfection."

A single tear rolled down her cheek, as she closed her eyes and closed to the distance between us.

I couldn’t resist her succulent lips. I couldn’t stop myself anymore. I had to...

I kissed her.

It wasn’t gentle or cautious. It was everything I had suppressed for too long. The hunger that haunted me for months. The obsession that had followed me since I first saw her. The desire grew stronger every time she walked into a room.

For one awful heartbeat, she stayed stiff. Her lips unmoving against mine. My stomach dropped, dread flooding me. Had I crossed the line? Had I just destroyed everything?

Then she melted.

Her mouth softened, she pressed her body harder to mine, and she made a tiny sound that undid me completely. Her hand held my shirt as she stayed close like she wanted an urgent need of intimacy.

And then she kissed me back.

God.

The world fell away.

She tasted like mint, like something sweet and warm and utterly addictive. I wrapped my left hands around her waist bringing her fully on me while my right her touched her ass as I kissed her passionately.

She tilted her head back allowing the kiss to get deeper as my lips claimed hers, parting for me,until I couldn’t tell where she ended and I began.

I lifted her slightly, pressing her gently against the doorframe, needing her closer. Her gasp only urged me on. My fingers traced her hair playing with her hair. I was very careful not to touch her wound, but desperate to feel more of her.

Every moment of that kiss poured fire into my veins. Desire. Passion.

I felt that my life has been missing something, and now I've it in her.

I kissed her jawline and neck, noticing how her body reacts with shivers and trembles beneath my mouth. She whispered my name like a prayer, and it undid me.

“Adrian,” I groaned against her skin before claiming her lips again.

At that moment, she was mine.

Not in contracts. Not in deals. Not in forced proximity. But in truth. In heat. In raw, undeniable connection.

When at last we broke apart for the passionate kissing, we both needed time to breathe.

My forehead gently rests on hers. Her lips were a bit swollen from the long passionate kiss, she fluttered.

Her eyes were still closed as if she was afraid to open them and face what just happened.

She looked beautiful.

“That isn’t a mistake Adrian,” I whispered, almost pleading.

Her eyelids fluttered. Longing. Fear. and shame shows clearly in her eyes.

“This can’t happen,” she said softly. “It just… can’t.”

“It already did.”

She shook her head. “No. We can’t. I told you—I can’t risk this. Love ruins everything. It will destroy me again.”

“This isn’t love,” I said but I knew what I said wasn’t fully true. “It's an attraction. Desire. Chemistry. Call it what you want. But don’t deny it’s there.”

Her chin lifted stubbornly. “Two adults who should want nothing to do with each other. You’re my employer. You hold all the power. If this goes wrong, I lose everything. My job. My home. Pink. My parole. My freedom. Everything.”

Her words slammed into me like ice water. She was right. Completely right. If this turned to ashes, she’d pay the price.

But I couldn’t bring myself to step back.

I opened my mouth to argue, to promise her we could make it work somehow—

Then my phone rang.

The sharp sound rang in the hallway like a blade. We both jumped.

I cursed under my breath and glanced at the screen. Mark. Of all people. Of all times.

“I need to—” I began, but Adrian was already moving.

“Take it,” she said quickly, her voice shaking. Relief coated her words, as though the interruption was the excuse she needed to run.

“Adrian, wait—”

But she loosed herself from my arms, and hurriedly enter her room, shutting the door firmly between us.

Silence fell.

I stood there, looked at that closed door for a while, my body still on fire, my lips still burning from her kiss.

That kiss.

It had been everything. More than I imagined. Worth the three years I had waited, worth every restless night.

And now she was gone again, hiding behind her walls.

My phone kept ringing, relentlessly. With a sigh of frustration, I answered.

“This better be important,” I snapped.

“Sir,” Mark’s voice came urgent, breathless. “I have the details you requested about Adrian Martinez’s case. And you’re going to want to hear this.”