Elena couldn't remember how she got home that night. The taste of his kiss lingered on her lips, the heat of his hands branded on her skin. She barely slept, her mind replaying the moment again and again.
The next day, she told herself it would be different. He would retreat, rebuild the walls, and she would pretend nothing had happened.
But when she entered his office that afternoon with the London files, the air shifted instantly.
Alexander looked up from his desk. For a long moment, neither spoke. The memory of the kiss hung between them, heavy and alive.
"Leave the documents," he said finally, his voice rough.
She placed them down, but when she turned to go, his hand caught her wrist. Firm. Unyielding.
"Elena."
The sound of her name on his lips undid her. Slowly, she turned back.
His gaze burned into hers, something fierce and forbidden sparking there. In the next breath, he was out of his chair, closing the space between them.
His mouth found hers again, harder this time, hungrier. The kiss stole her breath, stole her reason. She gasped against him, her hands clutching at his shirt as his arm circled her waist, pulling her flush against him.
She felt the sharp edge of the desk against her back as he pressed her there, his lips trailing from her mouth to her jaw, her throat, each touch searing.
"Alexander…" Her whisper trembled.
He stilled, his forehead pressing against hers, his breath ragged. "This shouldn't happen."
"And yet it is," she whispered back, her hands still gripping him, unwilling to let go.
For a moment, he hovered there, torn between restraint and ruin. Then his lips crashed back to hers, and restraint lost.
The kiss deepened, rough with weeks of denial, and Elena felt herself unravel under him, every nerve alive.
But just as his hands slid to her waist, anchoring her against him—he pulled back, chest heaving, eyes blazing with war.
"This ends here," he said, his voice hoarse. "It has to."
Her lips were swollen, her heart pounding, her body still thrumming with the ghost of his touch.
But deep down, she knew the truth.
It wasn't ending.
It was only beginning.