Chapter One: Can You Play For Me?
1181 Words
Kaiden Draven
I wasn’t the man who was supposed to stand at the altar today.
And I wasn’t the man who should be reaching out to place a ring on the finger of a woman I knew nothing about… except her name. Lara.
But I was here.
Standing with her in front of the priest felt more like two people facing a death sentence, not the beginning of a marriage.
“Mr. Kaiden, do you take Miss Lara Wilson as your wife?”
I heard the question, but the voice that came out of me wasn’t the voice of a happy man. It was the voice of someone giving up.
“I do.”
I said it like a man who knew he was betraying himself before betraying her.
Lara glanced at me from the corner of her eye. She was beautiful. Innocent. Scared.
And none of it changed anything inside me.
“Miss Lara, do you take Mr. Kaiden as your husband?”
She let out a small breath before whispering, “I do.”
The priest smiled.
But I couldn’t find a single reason to smile back.
“You may kiss the bride.”
I placed my hand on her waist. She was trembling.
My other hand moved to her neck as I pulled her closer.
I kissed her. A kiss empty of everything.
A kiss of a man doing his duty, not a man celebrating his wedding.
And when I pulled away, I realized I wasn’t her man.
And I would never be.
**
Maldives, 12:24 a.m.
I was breathing hard as I stared at the woman lying on the bed. She looked like a wild, stubborn lover who refused to break.
Her skin was covered with my marks. Her lips were swollen. Her body tired from everything she freely gave me. With her own desire.
She was a true masochist. And she gave me something no other woman ever did, even if I waited years.
I left her on the bed and walked into the bathroom, trying to wash off the scent of lust that covered my first hours as a newlywed.
After fifteen minutes, I came out, running the towel through my black hair.
I threw it carelessly over the chair and lit a cigarette.
I needed air. Or at least something that reminded me I was still alive.
I opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony.
The ocean hit me with a calm so sharp it hurt.
A silence strong enough to knock into the chest of a man running from himself.
But then I felt something.
A different kind of stillness.
A call.
I pulled the violin from my bag. I hadn’t touched it in weeks.
I walked down to the shore, barefoot, my chest bare, the sand sticking to my skin with every step.
I stopped near the water.
A wave touched my feet then pulled away.
I lifted the violin to my shoulder, and right when I was about to play…
I heard her.
A girl’s voice. Singing.
It wasn’t perfect. But it was soft. Heavenly.
Like it was coming from the heart of the sea itself.
I lowered the violin and turned, searching for the sound.
And then I saw her.
An angel walking barefoot on the sand.
A light white dress that showed more than it hid.
Her hair flying like the wind knew her.
Her body moving with a gentle sway, her chest rising with every step in a way that took the last bit of focus I had.
She stopped only a few feet away.
She looked at me with shy eyes.
And in that moment… I felt something I didn’t feel with any woman.
Something I never felt with my own wife.
I crushed the cigarette and threw it aside.
I couldn’t look away from her even if I wanted to.
I took one step toward her.
Then another.
She turned her head slightly and whispered, “Hi.”
God… her voice.
I answered quietly, “Hey.”
She lifted her eyes to mine with innocent curiosity. “Are you here alone?”
I smiled. “No. I’m with my fiancée… but he’s asleep.”
Fiancé.
A strange sting hit my chest.
I repeated the word gently, “Asleep?”
“Yes. Why?”
I walked a little closer. “Shouldn’t you be the one asleep?”
She didn’t get it at first.
Then her cheeks flushed bright red.
God… it was beautiful.
She stuttered, “No… we… we didn’t do that.”
I smiled.
For the first time that entire day, a real smile.
Her softness was the sweetest thing about her.
A kind of innocence I had never seen.
She was pure temptation wrapped in a quiet breeze… walking alone… past midnight… on the beach… while her fiancé slept.
When I looked at her neck, I saw a small tattoo near her collarbone.
Princess Tara.
She lifted her head and caught me staring.
She was staring too… at my wet hair, my scar, the small mole under my lip.
When she realized she was staring, she looked down again, shy.
She noticed the violin in my hand. “Do… do you know how to play?”
I answered with calm confidence, “Yes.”
She hesitated. Then asked, “Can… you play for me?”
Yes, I could.
And I wasn’t going to refuse her anything.
I lifted the violin and adjusted it on my shoulder.
“What song do you want?”
She answered right away. “Carol of the Bells.”
I hummed softly.
Easy.
Then I played.
The bow slid gently over the strings.
One note. Then another.
The melody drifted into the night, into the ocean, into the heart of the girl who closed her eyes and let herself go with it.
When I finished, she opened her eyes slowly. “You… play so beautifully.”
I couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at my lips.
I looked at her.
And she was looking right back at me.
A moment of silence.
Then another.
Something forming between us that shouldn’t exist.
Our eyes held each other, speaking a language I didn’t understand but felt deep in my chest.
I saw my own desire reflected in her eyes.
And she saw the chaos burning in mine.
I forgot my wife.
She forgot her fiancé.
We forgot the night, the beach, the world.
We were lost in each other.
Then a sharp hit inside my mind.
The name Lara.
My wife.
Sleeping inside.
Her body still carrying the marks of my hands and sins.
I looked at the girl standing in front of me.
I stepped back.
Lowered the violin.
She whispered, confused, “What… what’s wrong?”
I said my wife’s name under my breath as I stared at the ring shining on my finger.
She lifted her face to me completely.
And right then… I realized something painful.
Kaiden, the cold man, had fallen in love.
And on his wedding night, he found the woman he truly wanted.
- Writer
