Chapter 15

Liam

The wind that night was merciless. Icy, it cut the skin like tiny invisible blades. The veranda was perfect — candles flickering, the stars displayed as if they were here just for me and for her. But when I looked at Kyra, I noticed the mistake: the thin pajama, almost transparent under the yellow light, revealed that she was trembling slightly, trying to hide it.

She never asks for anything. Never complains. Prefers to suffer in silence, as if she has no right to truly exist. That eats at me more than I'd like to admit. Because deep down, I wanted her to be stone, not glass.

I stood up without much thought, walked to the living room and brought a gray wool blanket. I placed it over her shoulders without asking permission. The gesture was simple, but intimate. More intimate than I should allow. But I confess I liked it.

"I don't want you freezing while we talk." My hands brushed her arms as I adjusted the blanket. The shiver that ran through her body wasn't just from the cold. I can tell when I touch something forbidden.

Kyra didn't look at me. She bit her lower lip, perhaps to avoid saying what she really thought — or what tormented her. Every day I notice she hides more of herself than she reveals.

I sat down again, leaned forward and stared at her. Not hiding that she awakened my greatest interests.

"You told me that everything about me attracts you… but you insist on putting yourself behind that wall of prohibitions." I lowered my voice, deep and slow. "What scares you so much, Kyra? Is it me? Or what you think I am?"

She breathed deeply, averting her gaze to the wine resting in the glass. Her trembling hands revealed the fragility she tried to cover.

"It's not you that scares me," she murmured. "It's what could happen if I allow myself to go further. Do you understand?"

I was silent for a few seconds, processing her words. I know her fear, even if she doesn't confess it. The past haunts her. And I… I'm not exactly a safe refuge. Much less a man who cares.

"I'm afraid too." I admitted, with a crooked, almost cynical smile. "Afraid of regretting what I don't do. Of looking at you every day and convincing myself I shouldn't want… when, in fact, everything I want is sitting in front of me. You have brown eyes and my daughter adores you."

She raised her eyes to me. There was no challenge, but a vulnerability that hit me harder than any rejection could. I brought the glass to my lips, took a sip of wine, and then leaned toward her. I didn't touch her this time. I just let the weight of my words hang between us.

"I don't buy people with flowers, necklaces or improvised dinners. But you…" I let out a muffled laugh — "you make me want to try, Kyra. You scramble my thoughts in a way I couldn't allow myself."

Silence settled again. Her breathing was audible, as if the air around was too heavy. And it was.

If I leaned just a few centimeters, I could taste the mouth that so tempts me. But I held back. Because part of me wants her to be the one to cross that line.

"Speak, Kyra." I asked, almost like an order. "I've already opened the door. Now it's you who decides whether to enter. I want you, not only as a nanny, but as someone I can have trust with."

Kyra

The warm fabric on my shoulders surprised me more than any of his words. It wasn't just a blanket — it was the gesture of someone who watches, who cares. And that, coming from Liam, is as dangerous as sweet poison.

I couldn't let myself be deluded. That man is not mine. He never would be. I was just the nanny of his daughter, someone passing through, destined to disappear from both their lives the moment Julie got better. Still… how to resist?

The warmth of the blanket mixed with the heat he provoked in me just by looking. I was cornered. He spoke to me of fear and desire, and everything inside me screamed to run. But my legs didn't obey.

"What scares me, Liam… is losing the little I still have of myself." My voice came out low, choked. "I've already lost people I loved. I've been destroyed by hands that should have protected me. I can't afford to be destroyed again. I can't destroy myself every time you remind me that I'm not Ana. I think it's better we stay like this... I'm your daughter's nanny, and the woman you decided to give a job to."

He listened in silence. His eyes didn't look away for an instant. That intensity burned me from within.

"You think I'll destroy you?" he asked, in a tone so firm it took my breath away. "And forgive me for the times I was an idiot with you. I really didn't want to… you'll never be like her, because she was rotten."

"I think you can, yes, destroy me," I confessed. "As for your apologies, I accept. But I didn't think I wasn't also dirty."

The admission came out like a blade, cutting the air between us. He closed his eyes for a second, breathed deeply, and when he opened them again, there was something different there. It wasn't just desire. It was conviction. It was certainty. He wanted and that he would get it.

"Then let me prove you otherwise." he said, his voice deep, drawn out, laden with a promise that frightened me more than any threat could. "Say something..."

I remained motionless. Part of me wanted to run, lock myself in the room and pretend none of this was happening. But the other part — the one that still believed I could be happy — wanted to stay.

I drank the wine in one gulp, trying to numb the confusion inside me. He chuckled softly, as if he understood the disguised escape in the gesture.

"You hide even when you're in front of me." He leaned closer, enough for me to feel the heat of his breath. "But I'll keep removing your defenses, one by one. Until you understand you're not alone."

My eyes closed reflexively. And when I opened them, I found his fixed on mine, hungry, dangerous.

"Liam…" my voice failed, like a whisper begging him to spare me — or to devour me.

"What is it?" he pressed, almost brushing his lips against mine. "Are you waiting for me to kiss you? Or hoping I don't?"

My whole body vibrated at that provocation. I knew I should push him away, remind him what I am — just the nanny, just someone passing through. But all I could do was stare at him, lost, without an answer. He didn't kiss me. Not yet. He only moved away slowly, leaving an absence that made me shiver.

"Think about it, Kyra." he murmured. "Because I've thought enough. I know what I want, I hope you know too."

We stayed there, in silence, with the stars as witnesses. I, wrapped in the blanket he gave me, trying not to give in to the desire that grew every second. He, watching me as someone who had already decided he would not give up.

And, in that moment, I realized: no matter how much I fight, Liam Blackthorne had already begun to break my barriers. And those barriers are more visible than I could imagine. Damn!