Chapter 28 THE UNEXPECTED KISS (Demilia’s POV)
“Demilia… are you crying?”
His voice...low, rough, and completely unguarded....was heard trembling as he approached.
I jerked my head up from the corner of the hallway where I had been hiding. My vision was blurry, my chest tight, my fingers shaking helplessly around the fabric of my dress. I didn’t even hear him approaching. I didn’t even know how long I had been crying.
“Ethan… don’t,” I whispered, wiping my face quickly with the back of my hand. “Please, just go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, stepping closer. Too close. Close enough for me to smell his cologne which was dark, warm, intoxicating, wrapping around me like silk. “Talk to me.”
“I don’t want to talk,” I muttered, lowering my gaze.
“And I don’t want to watch you fall apart like this,” he fired back.
I stiffened, my throat closed up. “Why do you care?”
He inhaled sharply, jaw tightening. “Dammit, Demilia, stop asking me that.” His voice wasn’t loud. But it was desperate enough to crack something inside me. I looked away because I didn’t trust my expression, didn’t trust the weakness trembling in my chest. “You’re so strange lately,” I whispered. “You’re hovering around me, watching me, treating me like I’m made of glass and...”
“And what?” he pressed. “That bothers you?”
“Yes!” I snapped, because it does a lot. He flinched… just a little.
“And no,” I added quickly.
He stared at me with that haunting intensity...like he could see exactly what I was trying to hide. Like he could touch my thoughts if he wanted to.
“Come here,” he said softly.
“I’m fine,” I lied again.
“You’re not.” His voice deepened. “I can hear your breathing from across the hall.”
I looked away immediately, but he moved closer.
One step. Two. Three. Until he was right in front of me.
Until the warmth of his body brushed my cold skin.
“Demilia.” Just my name, but it ended up in shaking my entire body. “I hate seeing you cry,” he murmured.
Something inside me cracked wide open at those words.
“Don’t pretend you care,” I whispered. “Don’t act like you suddenly...”
He lifted his hand sowly, cautiously. As though he was giving me time to pull away.
He brushed a tear off my cheek. I froze immediately, my breath hitching. My heart throbbed violently under my ribs.
“Stop,” I breathed. “Ethan… please.”
“I can’t,” he whispered.
“What do you want from me?” My voice breaking under the weight of everything I’d been holding back.
He swallowed. “I don’t know how to say it.”
“Try.”
His jaw clenched. His throat moved. His eyes burned into mine like a flame that had been waiting for oxygen.
“I want…”
He shook his head. “No. If I tell you, you’ll run.”
“Then say it.”
“I want you close.”
He dragged in a slow breath. “Closer than this.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out, making my knees feel weak, and my brain… useless.
“You’re confusing me,” I whispered.
“Good,” he murmured, stepping in until my back touched the wall. “Because you’ve been confusing me since the day you walked into my damn life.”
He reached out as if to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear...but halfway there, he stopped.
His fingers hovered inches away from my skin.
“Ethan…” I breathed. Something snapped that very moment. He quickly closed the distance.
His mouth crushed into mine...hard, desperate, hungry...like he’d been fighting the urge for years and finally lost the war. My breath left my body in a gasp.
His hand slid to my waist, pulling me into him, pinning me against the wall gently but firmly, like he was terrified I would slip away. I didn’t push him away. God… I didn’t want to.
“Say something,” he whispered against my lips, his forehead resting against mine, his breath uneven and hot. “Tell me to stop. Tell me you don’t want this.”
I didn’t say anything, and that's because I couldn’t. Instead, I whispered back shakily, “Ethan…”
That was all it took.
His mouth found mine again....slower this time but deeper, more devastating. His lips moved with a kind of hunger that made my entire body tremble. His thumb brushed my cheek. His fingers curled around my waist. His other hand slid into my hair, cradling my head like I was something precious.
I melted fully into his arms, completely.
My hands lifted, gripping the back of his shirt as I kissed him back...finally, helplessly, undeniably.
He groaned...a low, guttural sound ..like he had waited for this moment forever.
His lips softened. His hands gentled. His forehead rested against mine again as he breathed shakily.
“I shouldn’t,” he whispered, voice raw. “I know I shouldn’t.”
“I know,” I breathed.
“But you kissed me back,” he said, almost like he was afraid to believe it.
“Yes.”
His fingers curled tighter around my waist, pulling me impossibly closer.
“Why?” he asked, his voice breaking on the word.
“Because…” I swallowed hard, looking into his eyes. “I’m tired of fighting something that keeps pulling me to you.”
For a moment… the world went completely still. His eyes softened in a way I had never seen before.
Then he kissed me again...slow and deep...like he wanted to memorize my mouth. Like he was trying to rewrite every painful memory between us.
Like he was claiming something he had waited too long to touch. My hands slid up his chest, over his collar, into his hair. He pulled me closer, and I felt him shaking. He was obviously losing control. And for the first time… I didn’t run.
“Demilia,” he whispered against my lips, breathless and tortured. “If you knew how long I’ve wanted...”
A voice sliced through the moment like a blade dipped in poison.
“Well,” a woman drawled slowly, “isn’t this… adorable?”
We froze. Ethan jerked back slightly...but his arm stayed around me, like his body refused to let go. I looked toward the doorway.
And there was Vanessa.