The night was alive, trembling with secrets. Shadows clung to the walls like faithful hounds, their jaws open in silence. The only light in the room came from a single candle that flickered near the bed, its flame bending as if trying to hide from the man before me.
He stood at the edge of the mattress, his eyes drinking me in with hunger he did not bother to disguise.
"Do you know what you've done," he murmured, his voice a blade drawn slowly from its sheath. "Walking into my world. Touching the dark."
My breath caught in my throat. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but the pull between us was a chain made not of steel, but velvet soft, almost tender, but unbreakable.
"You wanted me here," I whispered, though my lips quivered. "And I... I didn't fight it."
His smile was dangerous, the kind that should have belonged to the devil himself. He moved closer, each step slow and deliberate, like a predator savoring the silence before the pounce.
The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he leaned over me, his hands braced on either side of my body. The shadows seemed to swell, curling like smoke, eager to swallow us whole.
"You're not afraid," he said, though his tone made it a question. His eyes glinted like obsidian fire.
"I am," I confessed. "But not of you."
A silence stretched between us, heavy and trembling. His thumb traced my jaw, then lower, hovering just at the hollow of my throat. My pulse fluttered like a caged bird beneath his touch.
"You should be."
And yet, when his lips descended, they were soft fevered, yes, but soft. The kiss was fire meeting gasoline, a desperate clash of hunger and surrender. His tongue brushed mine, coaxing a gasp from my chest. My body betrayed me, arching into him, craving more of the danger he carried like a second skin.
The air thickened, scented with wax and something darker, something male. His fingers slid to my wrist, circling it like a cuff. He pressed it down against the sheets, not harshly, but firmly enough that my heart stumbled.
Velvet chains. That's what it felt like his touch binding me in ways I could not see, could not resist.
I should have pulled away. Instead, I whispered, "Harder."
His breath caught, a sound low and sinful. The candlelight trembled as though it, too, had blushed. His grip tightened, pinning me. His other hand traced down my arm, across my ribs, until it found the curve of my hip. My skin burned beneath his touch, every nerve alive, raw.
"Tell me to stop," he said, his voice breaking, torn between restraint and ruin.
"I won't."
The words snapped something in him. His mouth found mine again, rougher this time, tasting of smoke and danger. His teeth grazed my lip, and I gasped against him, the sting mingling with pleasure. He devoured me, kissed me like he meant to claim every inch of my soul.
My hands, once trembling, slid up his shoulders, threading into his hair. The strands felt like silk against my fingers, a dark crown for the devil above me. I pulled, and he groaned, deep and guttural, a sound that shot heat through my veins.
His body pressed harder against mine, every line of him demanding I feel the power he barely leashed. And yet, when his hand slid beneath the hem of my dress, it was slow, deliberate like a man who wanted to savor every forbidden moment.
"You're playing with fire," he whispered against my ear, his lips brushing the shell.
"Then burn me," I breathed.
He laughed, low and wicked, as though I had just given him permission to destroy me.
The shadows on the walls writhed as though they were alive, moving with us, surrounding us, caging us. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the dark, to him, to the velvet chains that wrapped tighter and tighter, until I no longer knew where I ended and he began.
Time bent around us, every heartbeat a drumbeat in a song no one else could hear. His lips left a trail across my throat, down to my collarbone, branding me with heat and hunger. His name caught in my mouth, though I had never spoken it aloud. He seemed to hear it anyway, his gaze snapping to mine with a look so fierce it shattered me open.
There was no going back. Not after this. Not after him.
And deep down, I didn't want to.
If his touch feels like velvet chains, would you escape them... or beg for them tighter? đź–¤
Love me in the shadows, lose me in the light.đź–¤