I don't remember taking a breath. I don't remember deciding anything. I just remember the way he touched me, like he was claiming something he'd already decided belonged to him. His hands weren't rough. They were steady, slow, confident. Like he knew my body better than I did. Like he'd imagined this a hundred times and was just finally letting himself have it. One hand stayed firm on my waist while the other slid up my back, under the hoodie, fingers trailing the curve of my spine. His touch made my knees buckle, and I hated how easily I melted for him.
'Tell me to stop,' he said, voice rough against my ear.
But I didn't. I couldn't. I wanted to feel something, anything, other than the ache of pretending I didn't care. So I didn't stop him. I leaned into him instead, and that was all the permission he needed.
His mouth found mine like he was starving for it. There was no hesitation, no testing the waters. He kissed me like he'd already decided there was no going back. My fingers tangled in his shirt, pulling him closer, needing him closer, even though I knew we were dancing on the edge of disaster.
'God, Lyra,' he murmured against my lips, breathless. 'You don't even know what you're doing to me.'
But I did. I felt it in the way he gripped me tighter, in the way he backed me toward the bed without ever breaking the kiss. My heart was racing, my head spinning, but my body had never felt more certain. When the backs of my knees hit the mattress, he pulled away just enough to look at me.
His eyes were darker now, hooded, searching my face like he needed confirmation one last time.
'You're shaking,' he said softly.
'I know.'
'Are you scared?'
'A little.'
'Of me?'
'No,' I whispered. 'Of what this means.'
His thumb brushed my jaw, soft, almost sweet.
'Then don't think,' he said. 'Just feel.'
The way he looked at me made the world fall quiet. Like there was nothing outside this room. Nothing but him, and me, and the heat pooling low in my stomach.
When he leaned down again, slower this time, more deliberate, I let go of everything I was supposed to be afraid of. My brother. My reputation. The rules. All of it faded the moment Kairo Steele kissed me like I was his.
And for the first time, I didn't care what came next.