All Chapters of Terms and Temptations: The CEO spoils me silly: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Emma’s POV The first thing I felt was warmth. Not the sharp, desperate heat of panic. Not the fever dream that had been the past seventy-two hours. Just... warmth. Soft sheets. The faint scent of cedar and bergamot. The weight of a plush duvet curled around me like a promise I hadn’t dared to ask for. I opened my eyes to the dim morning light filtering through the penthouse windows. Xander's bed. Empty. But beside me, on the nightstand, a note in his familiar, sharp handwriting: _"Couldn’t risk waking you. You looked like peace I didn’t want to disturb. — X." I stared at it longer than I should have. Something about those words made my chest ache—not in fear, but in the soft, aching way it does when someone sees you. Really sees you. Then came the scent. Coffee. Toast. Something warm and cinnamon-spiced. I followed it barefoot down the hall and into the sunlit kitchen, my steps tentative. Xander stood at the counter, sleeves rolled up, shirt wrinkled, one hand on a skillet

Emma's POV The first thing I felt was warmth. Not just the heat of the sun peeking through gauzy curtains, or the way the plush duvet cocooned my limbs—but the kind of warmth that came from safety. From peace. From him. I blinked, shifting slightly on the bed. Xander was still asleep beside me, one arm draped protectively over my waist. His hair was a little messy, a soft contrast to the sharp lines of his jaw. His face looked younger like this. Less CEO. Less stone. Just... him. I stayed still, watching his chest rise and fall. In the quiet, I tried to memorize everything—the rhythm of his breath, the weight of his arm, the steady thrum of calm that being near him brought. "You're staring." His voice was rough with sleep, low and teasing. I blinked, caught. "You looked human. I was trying to document it." His lips curled lazily into a smirk. "And here I thought I looked like your man." I rolled my eyes, but the flutter in my chest betrayed me. "You’re annoying in the morn

Xander's POV The office still hadn’t settled. Whispers moved faster than emails. I didn’t need to be in the same room to feel the weight of every stare, the tension in every hallway Emma walked through. Her name lingered on tongues, always followed by the same question: Is she the one? And I let them wonder. Hell, I wanted them to. Let them whisper. Let them speculate. Let the world know she belonged by my side—because even if she didn’t wear my ring yet, she had everything else: my loyalty, my obsession, my restraint. The woman who’d gone from mystery to necessity. --- I watched her from the glass wall of my office, sitting at her desk across the floor. She wore a fitted cream blouse tucked into high-waisted pants, and she had her hair swept up in a loose knot. Elegant. Effortless. Dangerous. I should’ve been reviewing contracts. But I was watching the way she bit the edge of her pen when she was focused, the way her brow pinched when she was annoyed. I saw the little thing

Emma’s POVSometimes, the worst part of coming back isn’t remembering the pain.It’s waiting for it to happen again.And today, I could feel it. In the air. In the tight coil at the base of my spine. In the way my phone buzzed with messages I didn’t open, from names I’d long deleted but never truly forgotten.> "Hey babe, it’s Robert. I'm sorry for yelling. Been thinking about you.”I stared at the message on my screen, unmoving.The same man who had kissed my so-called best friend behind my back in a timeline no one else remembered.The same one who’d watched me bleed out on cold tile while Daine wiped the knife clean.Now?Now he was trying to crawl back into my life like nothing had happened.In his mind, it hadn’t.But I remembered.I remembered everything.---Meanwhile...Daine’s Apartment – That Same Evening“Did you see the announcement?” Robert asked, tossing his phone on her couch like it was covered in acid. “Xander freaking Blake.”Daine paced. “Emma. That stupid little id

Emma’s POV --- The sky had already darkened by the time we returned to the penthouse. The city glittered below, alive and loud, but up here… it was quiet. Too quiet. I slipped off my shoes and stepped into the bedroom, holding the boxed dress like it might vanish if I set it down too fast. It was now zipped inside layers of satin covering, suspended like a memory I hadn’t lived yet. But I had. Just not like this. I sat on the edge of the bed, letting the silence wrap around me. Today should’ve felt magical. Danielle made me laugh till my sides ached, Natasha was… well, human, and the dress made me feel like something out of a dream. But the ache in my chest wouldn’t leave. Not with Robert’s message still sitting unanswered on my phone. Not with Diane’s social media post tagging me in something about “old friends” and “fresh starts.” They were coming. They didn’t even know it—but they were about to become monsters again. And I was just trying to pretend I wasn’t afraid.