Craving Blackwell

Chapter four

He led her through another wing of the mansion until they reached a heavy door of dark oak.

Adrian unlocked it himself, pushing it open to reveal a room unlike the rest of the house.

This space was raw, shadowed, lined with shelves of books, scattered papers, and a grand piano sitting silent in the corner.

Catherine’s eyes widened. “This doesn’t look like the rest of your home.”

“No,” he said simply, crossing the room. “This is the only part of my home that feels real”

She followed, curiosity prickling. “Do you play?” She nodded toward the piano.

He hesitated, then sat at the bench. His long fingers rested on the keys as if reacquainting themselves with an old lover. A single note rang out, low and resonant, then another, weaving into a haunting melody that filled the room. Catherine stood still, transfixed. The music was raw, unguarded, a window into something deeper, something he kept locked away.

When the final note faded, silence rushed back like a tide. Adrian’s shoulders were tense, his head bowed slightly.

“That was” She searched for the right words “it was beautiful and sad at the same time.”

His gray eyes lifted to hers, sharper now, vulnerable in a way that stole her breath. “You know the shocking thing about life is that always the most beautiful things are sad.”

Her heart ached at the truth in his tone. She wanted to ask, what happened to you? But the words anchored in her throat.

Instead, she paced the room slowly, “You know one thing I learnt while growing up is that whoever hurt you, didn’t break you.”

For a flicker of a second, his eyes softened, and the mask slipped she could see a glimpse of a broken man

Then, just as quickly, it was back in place. He rose from the bench, towering, composed once more. “Be careful, Catherine,” he said quietly, though his voice held a tremor she hadn’t heard before.

“If you look too closely at someone scars, you might begin to open yours.”

Her breath caught.

And though she didn’t fully understand his warning, one thing was painfully clear whatever bound her to this man was no longer just curiosity. It was the universe, it was gravity, pulling her into the orbit of the sun that burned too hot, and too dangerously close.

As he slowly walked towards Catherine, her breath caught as his hand brushed hers. Slowly, deliberately, he closed the distance between them.

“Tell me if I should stop” he murmured, his lips hovering just a breath away. Her voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t understand, stop you from doing” she was cut short as his lip suffocated hers.

He kissed her, the world dissolved. His mouth was firm, commanding, yet unbearably tender. His hand slid around her small curvy waist, as he pulled her against him. She pushed him “Adrian I don’t we should” as she slowly turned away.

Adrian with the flame still burning in his chest turned her around and kissed her once again but this time it wasn’t a spark it was like a flame, it was like she melted into him, her fingers tangling in his hair as the kiss deepened, turned hungrier, needier.

The restraint that had simmered between them shattered. His lips traced down her neck, sending

shivers racing through her body. She gasped as his hands explored, discovering, claiming.

For once, she didn’t think about rules or consequences. She didn’t think at all. She simply Surrendered to a man who made her feel like the only woman in Manhattan.

When Catherine got back to her apartment, she could not stop thinking about the kiss they shared.

She stared blankly at the ceiling thinking what that kiss meant, they hardly knew each other and they shared a kiss on their first dinner.

But Catherine knew she didn’t just walk right into his world she fell right in.

Morning light streamed across her thin apartment curtains, but Catherine hadn’t slept much. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt Adrian’s mouth on hers.

She told herself it was a mistake, a dangerous flirtation with a man whose world was far from hers. And yet, two evenings later, she found herself stepping once again out of the black car that seemed so perfectly attached to her fate.

The city lights glittered behind her as the mansion’s doors opened. This time, she was not led to the grand dining room or the terrace. Instead, Adrian waited in the library, seated in a highbacked chair with a glass of whiskey in his hands catching the firelight.

“Catherine, you came” His voice wrapped around her, deliberate, claiming.

Her pulse jumped. “You didn’t give me much choice when you sent your driver.”

He smirked faintly. “I find most people make excuses. You didn’t.”

She stepped further into the room, hugging her coat around her. “Maybe I just wanted to know what game you’re actually playing.”. His gaze held hers, steady and unreadable. “What if it isn’t a game, Catherine?”

That silenced her.

For a moment, only the soft crackle of the fire filled the space. Then, with unhurried grace, Adrian rose and slowly paced across the room to where she stood. He stopped just a breath away, close enough for her to feel the quiet heat radiating from him.

“You intrigue me Catherine,” he said softly.

Her lips parted, words dangling on her tongue. “Why? Is because I spilled a glass of wine on you?”

A light laugh escaped him, surprising in its warmth. “No, it’s because you don’t want anything from me.” His gray eyes darkened, a glimmer of something raw breaking through. “Everyone always wants something, trust me it’s very hard to trust anyone if you were me, you’re just different”

The truth in his tone pierced her, it was like she saw then the cost of his wealth and the problems it had, the isolation, the endless performances, and against her better judgment, she whispered, “Am not any different from them I do actually want something from you”

His jaw tightened, as though the words cut way too deep. “Careful, Catherine”

But she didn’t step back. Instead, she looked up at him fully, refusing to be cowed “All am saying is why trust me blindly”

The silence that followed was electric. His gaze dropped briefly to her lips before snapping back to her eyes. His restraint was palpable, it was like a war between desire and control.

Finally, he exhaled, turning slightly away. “I think it’s best you should go.”

The words struck like ice.

Her throat tightened. “So that’s it, you pull me in just to push me away when you feel like you have no control over me”

He closed his eyes briefly, as though fighting himself. “If I let you stay, Catherine, I won’t stop at dinner or conversation. And once I start” His voice dipped lower, rougher. “I don’t know if I would be able to control myself”

Her breath caught, her body betraying her with the rush of heat in her veins.

“Then don’t,” she whispered before she could stop herself.

The air snapped like a taut wire. He turned back to her, his eyes blazing, his control unraveling. His hand lifted slow, deliberate, brushing a strand of hair from her face. The touch was light, but it burned like fire.

Every nerve in Catherine’s body screamed to close the distance, to let herself fall into whatever storm this man carried inside him.

But just as suddenly, Adrian pulled back. His hand dropped, his jaw hardened.

“No” he said hoarsely, his voice strained. “Go home, Catherine”

Her heart thudded painfully as she realized, he wanted her, Desperately, but there is something that held him back, something stronger than desire, something buried deep in the shadows of his past.

And as she left the mansion that night, she carried back through the glittering city in absolute silence, Catherine understood one thing with startling clarity.

This was no longer about curiosity. She was already in too deep in a pit that she might not be able to climb herself out of.