The city lights flickered outside the penthouse windows, casting long shadows over the tangled sheets and the two bodies still catching their breath in the aftermath of what they had just done.
Lexy lay on her back, her skin still warm from James' touch, her heart still hammering in her chest. Reality seeped in slowly, creeping beneath the haze of pleasure, whispering what have we done?
Beside her, James shifted, his fingers absently tracing circles along her bare hip. He was silent, but she could feel the weight of his thoughts pressing into the space between them.
They had crossed the line. Shattered it.
And it had felt too damn good.
Lexy exhaled, forcing herself to move, to untangle from him before she let herself sink any deeper. But the moment she sat up, James' hand caught her wrist, firm yet gentle.
"Don't," he murmured, his voice husky, rough from the things he had whispered against her skin just moments ago.
Her stomach twisted. "James, we"
"I know." His grip tightened slightly before he let go, sitting up beside her. His gaze met hers in the dim light, dark and unreadable. "But tell me you regret it."
Lexy opened her mouth. She should say yes. She should end this before it gets worse.
But she couldn't.
James' lips curled into something between frustration and satisfaction. He reached for her again, fingers trailing along the curve of her thigh, slow, deliberate.
"That's what I thought," he muttered.
Her body betrayed her, leaning into his touch, craving more even as her mind screamed at her to stop.
"This can't happen again," she whispered, even as his lips brushed against her shoulder, as his hand slid around to the small of her back.
James let out a dark chuckle, his breath warm against her skin. "You really believe that?"
Lexy closed her eyes, her resolve slipping as he pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat, his fingers digging into her hips, pulling her closer.
No.
She didn't believe it.
And when he pushed her back onto the bed, claiming her all over again, she knew…
This was only the beginning of their downfall.