Unexpected interest
“Tell me you don’t feel it too. Tell me you don’t think about it.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to find the strength to walk away, to not let this get any further. But when I opened them again and saw the raw emotion in his, I was lost. I couldn’t deny it anymore. “I do,” I whispered, my heart racing as I met his gaze. “But that doesn’t make this okay.”
Caden’s thumb continued its soft caress on my cheek, sending sparks down my spine. “I know it doesn’t. But I can’t stay away from you, Anita.”
My resolve cracked. In that moment, I hated how much I wanted him, how much I wished things were different. My mind screamed at me to walk away, to leave this mess before it destroyed everything, but my body betrayed me. I leaned into his touch, the space between us shrinking until it was nonexistent.
Caden’s lips hovered over mine, his breath warm against my skin. “I shouldn’t do this,” he murmured, but there was no hesitation in the way his hand slipped to the back of my neck, pulling me closer.
And then, we were kissing again.
This time, it was different—more urgent, more desperate. The kiss was a collision of all the tension, the frustration, and the longing that had been building between us. His hands gripped my waist, pulling me against him, and I felt the hard planes of his body pressed to mine. I melted into him, my fingers tangling in his dark hair as the world spun around us.
Everything about this felt reckless, dangerous, and yet, I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop. The taste of him, the way his lips moved against mine—it was all-consuming.
But reality crashed in far too quickly.
Caden suddenly pulled back, breathing hard. His forehead rested against mine as we both tried to catch our breath. “I can’t… I can’t keep doing this,” he said, though his grip on my waist remained firm, as if he didn’t want to let go.
“I know,” I whispered, feeling the weight of our actions settle in my chest. The guilt, the confusion, it all hit me at once. “We’re making things worse.”
He stepped back, his jaw clenched. “This has to stop. I need to figure things out with Dami.”
I nodded, though my heart ached at the thought. “Yeah. You do.”
We stood there in the silence, the moment hanging heavy between us. Everything had changed in an instant, and there was no going back.