Chapter 36

Chapter 36
Things between Dylan and Marianne escalated faster than either of them intended. One moment they were standing by her door, words tangled in guilt and longing — the next, his lips were on hers, and she wasn’t stopping him.

It wasn’t supposed to happen. Not tonight. Not with the wedding less than a day away. But as her hands found his shirt and he deepened the kiss, Dylan realized how much he’d been starving for something real — for someone who didn’t drain him just by existing. Being with Vivienne had become a performance. Every smile, every touch felt rehearsed. With Marianne, it was raw.

Uncontrolled.

When they stumbled inside, everything that had been buried between them finally broke free. There was no pretending, no careful restraint — just two people trying to forget what tomorrow would bring.

Later, lying in the silence that followed, the weight of what they’d done settled heavily over them.

Dylan stared at the ceiling, chest still unsteady. “If I marry Vivienne, I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life,” he said quietly. “But if I leave her now… I’ll prove everyone right. That I made a mistake.”

Marianne’s voice was soft, almost tired. “You’ll still hurt her if you stay.”

“I know,” he admitted. “But I can’t pretend this didn’t happen. I don’t want to.”

She sat up, pulling the sheet around her shoulders. “We crossed a line, Dylan. And I don’t think we can go back to what we were before.”

He looked at her, a small, guilty smile tugging at his lips. “Maybe not. But you can’t tell me you didn’t feel something too.”

Marianne hesitated, eyes darting away. “I wish I didn’t. I tried to ignore it after that kiss, but tonight… I just couldn’t anymore.”

Silence hung between them for a while — heavy, fragile, inevitable.

Finally, she whispered, “We made a mistake.”

Dylan nodded, though he didn’t look away from her. “Yeah. But it’s the first thing that’s felt real in a long time.”

They stayed like that — quiet, conflicted, and painfully aware that dawn was coming far too soon.