Chapter 5 ~ We Shouldn’t

{Harlow’s POV}

For a moment, I genuinely wondered if I had finally lost my mind.

That seemed like the most reasonable explanation.

A few seconds ago, I had been staring at a note warning me that the wives before me hadn’t left this estate alive, and my brain was still trying to process that particular nightmare when the figure standing over me casually transformed from my husband into his son.

So yes, insanity felt like a fair possibility.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice, tense, thinner than I intended.

Kael didn’t answer immediately. The room remained dim, moonlight spilling through the curtains in pale strips across the floor, but even in the darkness I could feel his attention fixed on me. 

Intensely.

I found myself backing instinctively toward the headboard.

“What are you doing?” I repeated, swallowing.

This had to be a misunderstanding. Maybe I hadn’t heard him properly. Maybe my brain had decided tonight wasn’t stressful enough and started inventing problems for entertainment.

Kael moved closer, slowly and deliberately.

“I want this,” he said smoothly.

My stomach tightened.

His voice sounded different. Not angry, not irritated, not defensive. Just certain.

Dangerously certain.

“What do you mean you want—”

“I want you. I want to taste you.”

The words landed heavily between us, and my pulse immediately betrayed me.

The worst part wasn’t hearing them. The worst part was realizing I believed them.

Every glance we’d exchanged. Every argument we’d stumbled into. Every strange silence and every moment in the greenhouse suddenly seemed to point toward this exact one.

“Kael…”

His name left my mouth as little more than a warning. Or maybe a plea.

I wasn’t entirely sure.

Neither option felt particularly encouraging.

But he reached for me then, his hand settling lightly against my waist, and the simple contact sent a ridiculous amount of thrill racing through me. My heart immediately decided to stop behaving like a respectable organ.

“What?” I whispered.

His eyes never left mine.

“Harlow.”

The way he said my name made something inside me wobble. Goodness.

“We shouldn't."

The statement sounded weak even to me.

Kael gave a very small smile, almost intangible, not because he found anything funny, but because he knew I didn’t mean it.

And unfortunately…

So did I.

The silence stretched between us while the distance disappeared. Then everything happened at once.

All the tension we’d spent days pretending didn’t exist finally stopped pretending. The arguments, the looks, the awareness, and the impossible attraction neither of us should have felt collapsed into a single reckless moment where he kissed my neck while sinking in between my thighs.

I spread them for him, and almost immediately, his lips connected with my mind… and the world narrowed.

To warmth.

To confusion.

To wetness and lust. 

And to consequences that could wait until tomorrow. Because I knew this wasn’t supposed to be happening, not here on this bed, not anywhere.

But then logic vanished as passion took over.

Kael pulled my dress aside and kissed my nipples then, and with that, I sank into the warmth of the moment.

**

The first thing I became aware of afterward was heat.

The second was panic.

The order felt appropriate.

I stared at the ceiling for several seconds while my brain attempted to reassemble itself into something useful. The room remained dim, but it felt completely different now. 

The air seemed hotter somehow, the space smaller and considerably more dangerous, and as my gaze drifted across the tangled sheets, I realized my thoughts looked about as organized as the bed did.

What had just happened would have sounded completely absurd if someone had described it to me yesterday.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of pretending it hadn’t happened.

Sounds had been echoing from the hallway, voices. And my eyes widened now as reality returned fully.

“No…”

The words escaped before I could stop them.

Kael had already vanished. At some point during my complete failure to make sensible decisions, he had heard the approaching activity and disappeared with the efficiency of a man who knew every hidden corner of this estate.

Meanwhile, I had been left behind.

Typical.

Absolutely typical.

I pushed myself upright and immediately began fixing the bed. The entire situation felt impossible. How exactly was I supposed to look normal right now when my heart was still sprinting, my thoughts were still scattered, and a very annoying part of my brain kept replaying the way Kael had kissed me and..? 

Not helpful.

Extremely not helpful.

The voices reached the door.

I abandoned the bed and headed straight for the bathroom. The moment I stepped inside, the bedroom door opened.

Perfect timing.

Naturally.

I closed the bathroom door behind me and leaned against it while trying to regain control of my breathing. I closed my eyes briefly and forced myself to focus.

Kael was tomorrow’s disaster.

Adrien was tonight’s.