LOGINEvelyn POVThe question landed in the middle of my laughter like a rock thrown into a pond. The ripples spread outward, and the laughter died."What?" I said."Protection, Evelyn. Condoms. Contraception. The birds and the bees. Are you on the pill?"I stared at the opposite wall. My brain, which had been happily replaying highlights of last night's activities, suddenly rewound to the specific moments in question and began reviewing them with forensic attention.The hallway. No.The bed, the first time. No.The bed, the second time, after we'd caught our breath and he'd pulled me back toward him and I'd climbed on top and. No.At no point during any of it had either of us paused to address the question of contraception. Not once. Not even for a second. Because we'd been too busy with the "fuck it" to think about the "oh, fuck.""Evelyn?" Belle's voice was careful now. Very careful. "Are you there?""I'm here," I said. My voice sounded distant, as if it belonged to someone watching my l
Evelyn POVThe words came out before I could catch them, raw and embarrassingly honest. The kind of thing you say to your best friend at seven thirty in the morning when your defences are down, and you're sitting in a bed that still smells like someone who isn't there anymore.Belle was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice had shed the excitement and softened into something gentler."Oh, Evelyn. What happened?""We spent the night together." I pressed the heel of my hand against my eye. I was not going to cry. I was absolutely, categorically, one hundred per cent not going to cry about a man at seven thirty in the morning. "He took me to La Maison Doree, and it was perfect, Belle. The whole evening was perfect. And then we came back here, and we..." I trailed off. "He left before I woke up. There was a note on the nightstand.""What did it say?""'I left, but will always think of it.'"Belle exhaled. Long and slow. "That man.""He's going to Bangria. He said it would be a whi
Evelyn POVI reached for him before I opened my eyes.My hand moved across the sheets, searching for the warmth that had been wrapped around me when I'd fallen asleep, the solid wall of his chest against my back, his arm heavy and possessive around my waist. My fingers found nothing but cool cotton, and the absence registered in my body before my brain caught up. A hollow feeling, right behind my ribs, that spread outward like ink in water.I opened my eyes.The bed was empty. His side was rumpled, the pillow still dented from where his head had been, but the warmth was gone. The room was filled with early morning light, pale and grey, filtering through the curtains I hadn't bothered to close last night because I'd been rather spectacularly busy.I sat up slowly. The sheets fell away from my bare shoulders, and the cool air raised goosebumps across my skin. My body ached in places I'd forgotten could ache, a deep, pleasant soreness that made every movement a small reminder of what had
Evelyn POVMy back arched sharply off the bed. My hand slammed against the headboard, gripping it, and the other found his hair, fingers twisting into the dark strands. He worked me slowly, thoroughly, with a patience and attention to detail that bordered on cruelty. His tongue moved in long, deliberate strokes, finding every sensitive spot and returning to it, building pressure with a rhythm that he adjusted every time my body told him something, and my body was telling him everything.I couldn't think. I couldn't form words. The world narrowed to the point of contact between his mouth and my body, and everything else dissolved. My hips moved against him, matching his rhythm, and he let me, his hands steady on my thighs, holding me open, holding me exactly where he wanted me.The tension built in waves. Each one higher than the last, each one pulling me closer to an edge I could feel but couldn't reach. He took me to the brink and held me there, easing back every time I was about to
Evelyn POVThe kiss was not like the one we'd share in the car. It was like the gentle, careful acknowledgement of two people navigating complicated feelings.This was the kiss he'd been holding back since I'd opened the front door three hours ago in a burgundy dress with a bare back and perfume that you had to lean in to smell. This was weeks of distance, regret, and wanting compressed into a single point of contact, and it hit me like a wall.His mouth was hot and demanding, his thumbs pressing against my cheekbones as he tilted my head back, deepening the kiss before I'd even finished processing the first one. My clutch fell from my fingers and hit the hallway floor. My hands grabbed the front of his shirt, fisting the fabric, pulling him inside.He stepped through the doorway without breaking the kiss. His foot kicked the door shut behind him, and the slam echoed through the hallway. Biscuit yelped from the living room and scrambled away, his tiny claws clicking frantically across
Evelyn POVThe drive home was quieter than the drive there, but it was a different kind of quiet.The silence at the start of the evening had been loaded, tangled up with Vincent's tulips and my guilt and the weight of everything unspoken. This silence was warm and comfortable. The kind you only get with someone after the hard conversations have already been had and you're both just sitting in the relief of having survived them.Dinner had been extraordinary. Not just the food, though the food had been absurd. A seven-course tasting menu that included things I couldn't pronounce and flavours I didn't know existed. A wine pairing chosen by a sommelier who spoke to each bottle like it was a personal friend. Dessert was a dark chocolate something with gold leaf and a berry reduction that tasted like it had been invented specifically to make people close their eyes and moan.But it was the conversation that had made the evening. Gabriel, when he decided to actually let someone in, was fun
Evelyn POVI nearly fell.“You…” I whispered, completely stunned.Vincent. My stomach twisted with embarrassment and surprise. Vincent Hayes, whom I barely knew, had posted bail for me. Had seen me at my absolute lowest. Would now witness me walking out of a
Evelyn POVI chuckled softly, meeting her eyes with a calm I didn't quite feel. "I always knew you were like this underneath, and I knew you'd show your true face eventually," I said softly. "Keep this up and one day, I'm going to expose you for what you really are."Isabella smirked. "And who will
Adrian POVThe Bennett Corporation building looked different from the last time I'd been here - more worn down, less impressive than I remembered. Or maybe that was just my mood colouring everything grey.I walked through the glass doors into the lobby, ignoring the curious stares from staff member
Evelyn POVThe casual disrespect in the question made my grip on the microphone tighten, but I kept my voice calm. "Yes, thank you all for coming. Please return to your departments."The crowd immediately began filing out, not even waiting for me to step away from the microphone first. They streamed







