Chapter 18
Killian’s POV
It was a warm, dim room that smelled of lavender just as her mother had said she’d gotten it ready. Everything seemed so fragile, so sweet for someone like me. But I stayed quiet, I wasn’t here to complain.
Fiona perched at the edge of the bed, back straight, arms crossed tight as if she was seeking to draw an invisible line between us. I could see that she was uncomfortable. Her eyes bounced around the room, not meeting mine, avoiding any real conversation.
She hadn’t spoken a single word since her mother took us upstairs.
I was sitting on the little couch against the wall, going through emails on my phone. It was something to keep my hands to but this drew my eyes–I kept drifting back to her. She had no idea I was watching.
She looked… tense. Beautiful, but tense.
And it amused me.
A few minutes later I got up and slowly unbuttoned my shirt, one by one. I kept my mouth shut–just moved slowly, systematically. I wasn’t doing it for effect, but I knew exactly when she saw.
Her head whipped toward me.
“Wait–what are you doing?” she said, voice sharp, agitated,
I unraveled buttons, peeling the shirt off my shoulders with practiced case.
“Killian!”
Still no answer,
Now she stood, facing me directly, eyes wide. “Why are you taking it off your clothes?!”
I didn’t respond. I simply fumbled my belt and took my time to do it.
“Killian!” she shouted again. “What are you trying to do?! Don’t you know I’m here?!‘
Her voice trailed somewhere between fury and embarrassment, and I couldn’t help the faint smirk tugging at the corner of my lips. She was flustered – genuinely flustered and that was oddly gratifying.
I finally glanced at her with a cool, cold gaze.
“Would you like me to take my bath in the room?” I asked dryly.
She froze.
Exactly,
Without waiting for her to answer, I took a towel, walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind me. The first time all day that my muscles released into the blanket of water was the moment I stood under the shower and the warm stuff washed down my shoulders.
But my mind didn’t.
1/4
Chapter 18
It went straight back to her.
To Fiona.
The way she looked at me as if I were insane. The way her voice shook with both rage and something she didn’t wish to define. She didn’t anticipate me being so casual with her. But why wouldn’t I be?
We lived under the same roof. Shared the same title. Her mother had referred to us as a couple. Her father had trusted me. This whole contract began as a revenge plot – but somehow we’d embedded ourselves in each other’s lives faster and deeper than we had bargained for.
I didn’t know when, but I no longer looked at her like she was a business transaction. It helped that, somewhere along the way, I started to truly see her – how her mouth twitched when she was staving off anger, how she attempted to act as if she didn’t care, the way her eyes held all that pain she never discussed.
I knew she still doubted me.
I knew she believed this to be temporary.
But the more I watched her, the more I listened, the more I cared without wanting to. I was no longer thinking about the end. I wasn’t thinking about when this would break down and we’d go our separate ways.
I didn’t want to.
Well, I mean, I just wanted to show up and see what happens.
She had come to me.
So she has just to keep being mine.
Steam lagged at my heels as I emerged from the bathroom, towel–drying my hair with one hand. I was wearing a gray pair of shorts, nothing else. Water dripped off my chest, dripping along the lines of muscle, but I didn’t mind. I never had, not in my own space and tonight, this room was mine.
—
Fiona sat rigidly on her side of the bed, obviously hoping I’d evaporate. As soon as she caught sight of me, her eyes widened like saucers and she shielded her face with one hand as though it were some sort of protection.
Can’t you wear something?” she said, her voice thin, flustered, nearly a squeak.
mirked.
I moved toward her slowly, towel now draped around my neck. She didn’t get up, but I could see her shoulders tense with each step I took.
“Why?” “Do you?” I asked, halting just before her. “Are you embarrassed?”
She didn’t answer.
I leaned in a little, dropping my voice only low enough to rattle her nerves. “Do you, like, want to jump on me or something?”
Her hand fell from her face in disbelief. “What?!”
I just looked down at her, savoring the angry cocktail of emotions on her face. Anger. Embarrassment. Confusion
Exactly what I wanted.
2/4
3:03 pm DD
Chapter 18
She opened her mouth to chastise me, but I got there first. I sat up straight and gave her one of those cool, uninterested looks. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in you.”
I turned as though to walk away but I didn’t get far.
In a heartbeat, she was on her feet, standing between me and the door, fire in her eyes.
“So are you trying to say I’m not beautiful?” she said, her voice hard, nearly quivering.
Ah. There it was.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I walked up to her and took her hands gently.
She blinked, surprised. But she didn’t pull away.
I pulled her in, till she was molded gently to my chest. My arms wrapped around her waist, keeping her close.
She gasped.
Her breath caught. Her lips parted just a hint, and I watched as the confusion she was flicking through her processing tool box morphed into something else–something she seemed to be fighting not to feel.
I leaned in.
Close enough that she could feel the heat between us. Close enough to hear my heartbeat.”
She didn’t move.
Neither did I.
Then, as if drawn by something neither of us could name, our lips touched.
Just barely.
Soft. Testing. Electric.
And the next moment we were kissing.
No hesitation. No rules. No distance.
It was intense – hot, full of emotion, tangled in everything we hadn’t been saying for weeks. My arms turned slightly in her fingers. Mine wound tighter around her middle. She tasted like warmth and frustration and a kind of sweetness that made at man want to take a little more.
But like it began, it ended just as quickly.
She recoiled, eyes the size of saucers, breathing erratic.
I didn’t stop her.
She grabbed her towel off the bed, turned and ran into the bathroom without a word, slamming the door behind her.
The room fell quiet once more.
But everything had changed.
3/4
3:03 pm D D D
Chapter 18
1 remained where she’d left me, her scent still on my skin, my lips still tingling from the kiss.
I raised my fingers and touched my mouth, a slow smile breaking.
“She’s as sweet as I thought she’d be,” I murmured to myself.
4/4
