CHAPTER 4 - I SEDUCED MY UNCLE AND HE LIKED IT IV

*Nora’s POV*

I woke up the next morning with the taste of him still in my mouth and a heavy, restless feeling under my skin.

When I came downstairs, Uncle Victor was already in the kitchen. He stood at the stove with his back to me, wearing a dark T-shirt and sweatpants, moving with the same controlled efficiency he always had. The smell of coffee and toast filled the room. For a second it almost felt normal.

Then he turned and looked at me.

His eyes didn’t stay on my face for long. They flicked down the oversized shirt I was still wearing and away again just as fast. He set a plate on the counter without sitting down.

“Breakfast is ready,” he said. His voice was even, polite, and completely distant. “I have an early meeting. I’ll be back this evening.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer. He picked up his keys, gave me a short nod that felt more like a dismissal than anything else, and walked out the door. The sound of the car leaving the driveway made the house feel suddenly too big and too quiet.

I sat at the counter and stared at the food he had made me. My stomach was tight. Every time I replayed the kiss from last night, I also replayed the way he had pulled back and left the room. Now he could barely look at me. The rejection from the movie night and the way he had shut down after the kiss tangled together until I felt sick with it.

I spent most of the day moving restlessly through the house. Around mid-afternoon my phone lit up with a video call from my mother. I almost ignored it, then forced myself to answer.

“Hi, baby,” she said, smiling. She looked relaxed, sitting in what seemed like a hotel room. “How are you? Is your uncle taking good care of you?”

“I’m fine,” I said. My voice sounded almost normal. “He’s at work.”

“Good. Be nice to him, okay? Caroline said the conference is running longer than they expected, so it’ll still just be the two of you for a while.”

At the mention of Aunt Caroline, something cold slid through my stomach. I nodded and smiled and answered the rest of her questions on autopilot until she finally let me go. After the call ended I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.

He was married.  

I had kissed my married uncle and asked him to take my virginity.  

And now he was treating me like a problem he needed to keep at a distance.

By evening the quiet in the house had become unbearable. Victor came home, said a brief hello, and went straight to his study. There was no movie, no shared dinner, no attempt at normal conversation. The distance felt deliberate and heavy.

I couldn’t sit with it anymore.

I changed into my black bikini, pulled a short robe over it, and went downstairs. The pool lights were already on, throwing soft blue light across the water and the stone patio. I had only wanted to swim and clear my head. I hadn’t expected him to already be there.

Uncle Victor was in the deep end, moving through the water with slow, powerful strokes. When he reached the wall and surfaced, he saw me and went still.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

“I didn’t know you were out here,” I said.

“I needed to think.” His voice was carefully neutral. Water ran down his shoulders and chest. He stayed where he was, one arm resting on the edge of the pool.

I almost turned around and left. Instead I walked closer to the water.

“You’ve been avoiding me all day.”

He exhaled slowly. “I’m not avoiding you, Nora. I’m keeping a boundary. What happened last night already went further than it should have. I’m your uncle. I’m married. Your mother trusted me with you. I will not take advantage of the fact that you’re hurt and lonely and looking for something right now.”

“I didn’t come out here because of you,” I said. My voice came out quieter than I intended. “I just needed to clear my head.”

He didn’t answer.

I untied the robe and let it fall to the stone. The night air touched my bare skin. I was only wearing the small black bikini, the kind that left very little to the imagination. I felt his eyes move over me even though I wasn’t looking directly at him. When I stepped into the water, the coolness made me draw a soft breath.

I stayed near the steps for a moment, letting the water settle around my waist, before I finally looked at him again.

Uncle Victor’s jaw was tight. His gaze dropped once more — over my bare stomach, the curve of my hips, the way the wet bikini clung to my breasts — before he forced it back up to my face. Something dark and conflicted moved behind his eyes.

He pushed off the wall and stopped a few feet away from me in the water. Close enough that I could see the water beading on his collarbones. Close enough that the air between us felt charged.

“You should go back inside,” he said, voice low and rough.

He didn’t sound like a man who actually wanted me to leave.

He sounded like a man who was very close to losing the fight he had been winning all day.