Here's Chapter 10 of Beneath the Same Roof — the tipping point. After that rooftop kiss, Julian's POV gives us everything: the inner war between restraint and raw need, the guilt, the obsession, and the fact that he's finally stopped trying to fight what he feels for Ava.
This chapter is intense, slow-burn sensual, and deeply emotional — the moment where desire starts turning into something irreversible.
Chapter 10 – Her Name in My Mouth
POV: Julian
I couldn't sleep.
Again.
My shirt still smelled like her.
Her hands had been on my chest, fingers twisting in fabric like she was holding on for dear life. Her lips had trailed fire across mine. Her breath still echoed in my ears like a whisper that wouldn't die.
I ran my hands through my hair and cursed.
This wasn't normal.
Wasn't safe.
Wasn't fair.
She was my stepsister.
But when I closed my eyes, I didn't see bloodlines. I saw her mouth. Her neck. Her trembling breath when I touched her — and the way she'd leaned into it like she needed it more than air.
I wasn't supposed to want her.
But I did.
So goddamn badly it made me angry.
I found her again by accident.
Mid-morning. Sunlight pouring through the glass hallway. She was barefoot, wearing one of those soft, oversized sweaters that fell off her shoulder like an invitation.
She froze when she saw me.
So did I.
We stared.
I should've walked away.
Instead, I walked toward her.
Her lips parted, and her breath caught — I felt it in my own lungs.
"About last night..." she began.
I didn't let her finish.
I backed her into the wall, gently, my palm pressing beside her head. Not touching her. Just close. Close enough to feel the heat, but far enough that she could escape.
She didn't.
Instead, she tilted her chin up — waiting.
"You've ruined me," I said, voice low and raw. "You know that?"
A slow inhale. "Then we're even."
I reached up. Brushed her hair back. Let my knuckles drag down her neck. Her eyes fluttered closed.
I leaned in.
Not kissing her.
Just letting her feel what I wasn't saying.
"I think about you constantly," I whispered. "In ways I shouldn't. In places I shouldn't. When I'm supposed to be focused. Clean. Good."
A pause.
"And I can't stop."
She opened her eyes — wide, wet, blazing.
"I don't want you to stop," she said.
That broke me.
My lips found hers again.
This time, there was no hesitation.
I kissed her like I needed her to breathe — because maybe I did.
Her hands slid beneath my shirt. I groaned against her mouth.
We didn't make it to a bed.
The hallway was empty. Quiet.
I pressed her gently against the wall, our bodies molded together, every inch of her soft against every part of me that had gone rigid from weeks of trying to be "good."
She moaned into my mouth when my hands found her waist, her hips, under her sweater.
We weren't going to stop.
Not this time.
But then —
A door opened somewhere down the hall.
Footsteps.
Voices.
We froze.
I pulled back just in time.
Heart pounding.
Ava's chest rose and fell, her lips kiss-swollen, her skin flushed.
I leaned in and whispered, "Tonight."
Then I walked away like I wasn't dying inside.
🔥 End of Chapter Hook:
Julian disappears down the hall, hands clenched at his sides. Behind him, Ava whispers the word he never hears:
"Please don't make me wait."