Love On The Enemy Lines

Chapter 2

Selena should have walked away.

She told herself that twice — once when she caught his gaze, and again when he started toward her, cutting through the crowd like a memory she couldn’t outrun.

But by the time Jason reached her, her breath was already betraying her.

“Still running your brother’s charity galas?” he asked, his voice low enough to make the music fade around them.

“Still crashing them?” she shot back, though the edge in her tone couldn’t hide the tremor beneath it.

Jason’s smile deepened — the kind that used to unnerve her: confident, unreadable, and warm in a way he probably didn’t mean to be. “I was invited, actually. The sponsors from my foundation are collaborating with yours. Seems the universe has a twisted sense of humor.”

Her chest tightened. Of course. Brad had a habit of expanding the guest list without telling her every name. He wouldn’t have noticed — or cared — that Jason Knight was among them.

Selena stepped back, needing distance, but Jason’s presence filled every inch of air between them. “You shouldn’t be here, Jason,” she said again, quieter this time. “Brad—”

“I didn’t come for Brad.”

The way he said it — steady, deliberate — sent a ripple through her.

For a moment, the years between them dissolved. She remembered late nights at the old MonKnight headquarters, her brother and Jason arguing over prototypes while she brought them coffee; the way Jason’s laughter used to fill the room; the way he’d look at her when he thought she wasn’t watching.

But that was before the scandal. Before everything fell apart.

Selena glanced toward the ballroom doors, but the world had gone soft around the edges. All she could see was him — older now, broader shoulders, a trace of fatigue behind his eyes that made him look human again.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice breaking just slightly.

Jason exhaled, and for the first time, his mask slipped. “Because I got tired of being the villain in everyone’s story. I thought maybe… seeing you might remind me that once, I wasn’t.”

Something inside her twisted — guilt, longing, something she couldn’t name.

Before she could reply, a flash of camera light cut across the balcony. Reporters. Selena tensed. One photo of them together could ruin everything.

Jason noticed too. “Relax,” he murmured, stepping closer, shielding her from view. His scent — clean, faintly musky — brought back a hundred half-forgotten nights.

“This is a bad idea,” she whispered.

“Probably.” His gaze softened. “But tell me you don’t feel it too.”

She wanted to deny it — to walk back into that ballroom and pretend he was just another man in a suit. But when his hand brushed hers, the lie crumbled.

The music swelled again, muffled and distant. For a heartbeat, they stood on the edge of something dangerous — and utterly irresistible.

Then, Brad’s voice echoed from inside the hall, sharp and commanding. “Selena!”

She jerked her hand away as if burned. Jason’s expression darkened — calm, but knowing.

“Back to reality,” he murmured. “Don’t worry. I’ll play nice… for now.”

And before she could say another word, he was gone — swallowed by the crowd, leaving behind only the ghost of a touch and a chaos she couldn’t contain.

Selena drew a shaky breath, pressing her hand against her chest. The night had only just begun, and already the line between love and ruin was starting to blur.