All Chapters of Forbidden Affairs : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Layla’s POVThe fridge hummed softly as I stood in front of it, staring but not seeing. I wasn’t hungry. I was aching. Again.My breasts throbbed with pressure, heavy and sore. I thought it would stop by now. It had been nearly three weeks since I weaned Caleb, but my body hadn’t gotten the memo. Every day was a battle not to leak through my shirts, not to flinch when the fabric rubbed too tight.I rubbed my arm and sighed. It was nearly midnight. My father was out of town for work until tomorrow, and the house was still. But I wasn’t alone.He was here.Marcus.Dad’s best friend. The one who used to toss me in the air when I was five and sneak me sweets behind my mom’s back. The one who helped carry in boxes when I moved back here after the divorce. The one who was now sleeping in the guest room because his house was under renovation—and who had always looked at me like I was just his best friend’s daughter.Until recently.I heard footsteps behind me. I didn’t have to turn. I knew i

Forgive me, Father, for I’m about to sin.And I want you to hear every moan of it.I was raised to believe that temptation was the devil’s whisper—subtle, slippery, and shameful. But nothing about Father Elijah was subtle. And lately, the whispers had turned into full-blown screams inside my head.He stood tall at the pulpit, one hand gripping the Bible, the other lifted high as he spoke about purity and resisting the flesh. But all I saw were the veins in his forearms, the firm line of his jaw, and the way his lips curled when he said the word sin.I shifted uncomfortably in the pew, thighs pressed tight as wet heat pulsed between them. I shouldn’t be reacting like this. Not in church. Not to him.And yet…When the service ended, I lingered, pretending to fumble with my hymnbook until the pews emptied. He noticed. Of course he did. His sharp gaze landed on me like a blade against silk.“Savannah,” he said, his voice rich and low, echoing through the quiet chapel. “A moment?”I nodded

The scent of dark roast coffee pulled Nora from the haze of sleep. She padded out of the guest room barefoot, wearing nothing but a loose tank top and boyshorts. It was summer, and the heat in the city apartment made her skin glisten. The hardwood floor was cool beneath her toes, and the sun filtered through the blinds in soft golden stripes.She hadn’t even rubbed the sleep from her eyes when she turned the corner and stopped dead.Adrian stood in the kitchen, shirtless.And not just shirtless—gloriously shirtless. Muscles defined and lightly scarred, abs tensing as he reached for a mug from the top shelf, the curve of his back drawing her eyes like a magnet. He wore only gray sweatpants, riding low on his hips. His hair was still damp from a recent shower, curling slightly at the nape.He hadn’t seen her yet.She should’ve turned back.But she didn’t.Instead, she stood frozen, heart thudding, eyes devouring the forbidden view. He was Caleb’s best friend, ten years older than her, a

The heat between them hadn’t faded. If anything, it had gotten worse.Adrian avoided her for two days—staying late at the university, disappearing into his room, barely speaking more than polite words at breakfast. And when Caleb was around, Adrian acted like she didn’t exist at all.But she knew better.He was cracking. She saw it in the way his hands twitched when she got too close. In how his eyes lingered when he thought she wasn’t looking. The man was a storm with skin.On the third day, she found a note slipped under her door.Study session. 5 PM. My office. Come prepared to think.She smiled at the word think.Because she already knew she wouldn’t be doing much of that.⸻At 5 PM sharp, she knocked on Adrian’s home office door. It was a converted guest bedroom, filled with bookshelves, a desk, and that delicious scent of paper, cologne, and something darker—something purely him.He didn’t answer right away.When he finally opened the door, he didn’t say a word. Just stepped asi

The letter had smelled faintly of lavender and dust.Ava stared at it again, even as the winding road took her farther from the world she knew. “You are hereby invited to claim your inheritance at Hawthorne Estate,” it read in elegant cursive. The rest had been details—legal jargon, deadlines, executor’s names. One thing it didn’t explain was why three strange men were already living in the house her godmother left behind.Or why her godmother had made them co-heirs.The car jerked as the wheels hit gravel. Ahead, the mansion emerged from the mist like a secret too old to be told. Ivy clawed the stone walls, and windows blinked like eyes. The front door opened before she even reached the steps.She stepped out into the cold and met the first one—tall, broad-shouldered, arms crossed like a statue brought to life.Noah Hawthorne.She’d seen a photo of him once—stern in uniform, eyes like flint. In person, he was harder. Colder. His gaze skimmed her body with disapproval… or maybe intere