All Chapters of FORBIDDEN DESIRE : Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

Kai shows up at the house just after six.I am in the living room trying to read when the front door opens and his familiar voice carries down the hall. Deep, easy, threaded with the same quiet confidence Adrian carries, but warmer.“Adrian texted me to stop by,” he says as he walks in. “Something about the Singapore contracts needing a second set of eyes.”I look up.Kai stands in the entrance to the living room in a dark button-down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and black trousers. His hair is slightly windblown. When his eyes land on me, they pause for a fraction longer than necessary.“Aria,” he greets, voice softer. “Didn’t know you’d be home.”“I live here,” I answer, closing the book.He smiles, small and genuine. It is the same smile he has given me for years—Adrian’s best friend, always polite, always careful around me. Tonight it feels different. Or maybe I am the one who is different.Damien appears from the home office a moment later.“Kai,” he says, tone mild. “Di

I leave the door unlocked.Even after Kai’s kiss.Even after his quiet plea.Even after the way my lips still tingle and my chest aches with something that feels dangerously close to hope.I leave it unlocked because the part of me that belongs to Damien—the part that has already let him inside my body twice—is louder tonight than the part that wants to be careful.I sit on the edge of the bed in the dark, wearing only an oversized T-shirt, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around them. The house is silent. Adrian’s study light went out an hour ago. Kai left shortly after our kiss, the front door closing with a soft finality that still echoes in my head.Lock it tonight. Please.I didn’t.The handle turns just after one in the morning.Damien steps inside and closes the door without a sound. He doesn’t turn on the light. Moonlight cuts across the floor in a thin silver line, enough to show the sharp set of his shoulders and the dark intent in his eyes.He looks at me for a long moment.“Yo