Kissing Softly

“If you have any sense you would run away from me as fast as you possibly could,” Dougal Wilde said, his voice betraying some new emotions I couldn’t pinpoint. I looked at him through my lashes, and gently touched his cheek. “I do not think I want to take a single step away from you,” I whispered. He flinched at the touch of my finger. His eyes narrowed, the first indication of letting me know I was winning this war already. “Just as well. I am suddenly not in the mood to let you escape from me.” He lowered his head and his mouth moved on mine with astonishing tenderness, easing apart my lips until I obeyed the silent command. His lips surged into my warmth with stunning intimacy. I moaned softly and sagged against him. Never had a man kissed me in this manner. I shivered as he lifted me up against his chest. “Kiss me.” He ordered in a deep, dark voice that sent a delicious chill down my spine. Without stopping to think, I wrapped my arms around his neck. I moaned and sagged against him, my lips taking his in a soft whisper, lashing unto his tongue to suckle. “You little…” a groan was what ended his little speech. His hands found the strap of one end of my dress and pulled it down my arm, exposing my breast and pink little nipple. “So perfect.” He moaned. Without warning, he reached down and latched unto the nipple. ***** Natasha found herself falling for a man who is her father's friend and business partner. She knew she ought to run and never look back, but there was something in the way he looked at her that made her want to fall into sin with him.

Elena had once believed that silence could mean safety. That a gentle hand and a warm cup of tea placed quietly on her desk every morning could be a form of love. Lucien was never cruel—not in the obvious ways. He remembered how she liked her eggs, noticed when she swapped her perfume, and sent flowers on days he knew she wouldn’t expect them. He raised her like one would raise a pet—softly, without question. And Elena, foolish in the way only the very lonely can be, mistook his quiet affection for devotion. She told herself he was reserved. Mysterious. That love didn’t always wear its heart on its sleeve. But when the old flame returned—the one who spoke his language without needing to try—Elena saw it. The difference. He looked at her like a man who had found his lost religion. And Elena? She had simply been convenient. No tears, no scene. Just papers on the breakfast table, beside the eggs he cooked perfectly. She didn’t accuse or beg. She only asked for freedom. He didn’t sign. He chuckled. A soft, dismissive sound. “A cat raised indoors doesn’t know how to survive on the street, Elena. You’ll come back." But she didn’t. She disappeared, like smoke—except she didn’t vanish, not really. She lived. She wore colour again. Laughed at bad jokes. Let strange men hand her coffee and ask for her number. Lucien? He watched. He watched her become someone without him. And it drove him mad. The night he cornered her outside the gallery, rain in his hair and desperation in his eyes, he looked like a man undone. "Elena," he breathed, "please. Look at me. Just once." She did. Calm as ever, and her love already gone.

What if the college Hockey Captain, who is known for being cold and never kissing girls first, suddenly kissed you, a cheerleader flyer, at a Halloween party? Your best friend told you that the Captain is a guy who plays with girls. But after a deep dive, you know that he's not what your best friend or anyone else thought he was. He's more complex than that. And you're the only one who knows the Captain's secret that he....

The housekeeper’s daughter, Selena Greene, deliberately chose to get married on the same day, at the same hotel as me. When our cars passed each other on the way to our weddings, she rolled down her window and asked to switch my bridal bouquet with hers. My bouquet, however, wasn’t just any bouquet. It was hand-carved from priceless jadeite by my grandfather himself—a one-of-a-kind heirloom and his blessing for my wedding day. “Trish,” she pleaded softly, “please. I’ve sacrificed so much for this wedding. I just want it to be perfect. I’ll give it back to you as soon as we get out of the cars.” My heart softened. Against my better judgment, I handed her my bouquet and took her cheap, plastic flowers instead. However, when we stepped out of our cars, she refused to return it. Worse still, during her ceremony, she tossed my jade bouquet onto the floor, shattering it into countless pieces. That bouquet had been my grandfather’s way of being present at my wedding. It was all I had left of him. Yet, in front of everyone, Selena put on an innocent act and accused me, “Who takes back a bouquet after a switch? A glass bouquet like this is all over online shopping platforms for ten bucks. I’ll just pay you back. Trish, you’ve made my life hard enough on normal days. Do you have to humiliate me on the most important day of my life, too?” Furious, I confronted her, but she ducked behind my fiancé and my brother, wiping at her eyes like the victim. My fiancé immediately went to comfort her, leaving me standing alone at the ceremony, humiliated and ridiculed by everyone. My brother, too, called me cruel and heartless. He cut me off financially and threw me out of the family home. Selena’s husband, having quickly risen to success with the help of powerful backers, unleashed his relentless revenge on the now penniless and alone me. In the dead of winter, hired thugs found me and brutalized me to death. And Selena? She became their princess, adored by all three of them. I sank into darkness, full of rage and regret. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was transported back to the day of the wedding.