Chapter 5 – The First Kiss
1101 Words
Dinner was too quiet. That was the first thing Aria noticed.
The dining room was nothing like the grand ballroom last night. It wasn’t filled with music or laughter or clinking glasses. Just a long polished table, candlelight flickering against silverware, and the weight of silence pressing down on her chest.
Alejandro sat at the head of the table, perfectly composed. He didn’t eat much he rarely did when she was around. His dark gaze kept finding her across the table, deliberate, steady, as though he could pull her closer without even touching her.
And in a way, he did. Every time his eyes lingered, she felt herself leaning forward, forgetting to breathe.
She hated it. She hated him.
But her body didn’t listen to her mind.
Halfway through the meal, Alejandro’s phone buzzed. He didn’t even check it. He only lifted his glass of wine, eyes never leaving hers, and drank slowly. It was deliberate. He was always deliberate. Every gesture, every word nothing was accidental with him.
Aria’s hands tightened around her fork. She felt like prey under a predator’s watch.
“Why are you staring at me?” she finally asked, her voice sharper than she intended.
Alejandro set his glass down. His lips curved, faint but enough to make her pulse skip. “Because I can.”
Her breath caught. The room felt smaller suddenly, the candles hotter, the silence louder.
She didn’t reply. She couldn’t.
That was when Ethan walked in.
Aria straightened, relief washing over her like air after drowning. Ethan was smiling, charming as always, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes tonight.
“Forgive me,” he said, slipping into the chair beside her instead of taking his usual place across. “I had business to handle.”
Alejandro didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just watched.
Ethan leaned close to Aria, his cologne sharp and suffocating. “You shouldn’t sit so far away,” he murmured, as though they were sharing some secret.
Aria stiffened. She glanced toward Alejandro instinctively. He still hadn’t moved. But his jaw was tight, his fingers tapping once against the stem of his wineglass before going still again.
Ethan took her silence as permission. His hand slid across the table to cover hers.
Aria jerked slightly, but he gripped her fingers tighter. His smile was still in place, but there was something desperate in his eyes now. “You look beautiful tonight,” he whispered, leaning closer, too close.
Her stomach churned. She opened her mouth to pull back, to say something, but Ethan moved faster. His hand tightened on her chin, tilting her face toward his, and his lips came down.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t asked for.
Aria pushed against his chest, panic rising in her throat
Then he was gone.
One second Ethan was on her, the next he was yanked back so violently the chair clattered to the ground.
Alejandro stood over him, hand fisted in Ethan’s collar, his expression as calm as a storm before it breaks.
The room went cold.
“Don’t,” Alejandro said, his voice low, steady, deadly. “Ever touch what’s mine.”
Ethan sputtered, trying to shove him off, but Alejandro didn’t move. His grip was iron.
Aria sat frozen, her heart racing so hard she thought it would burst.
Then Alejandro turned, his gaze locking onto hers. And for the first time, she saw something there she couldn’t name. Possessiveness, yes. But also heat.
He let Ethan go with a shove that sent him stumbling back. Then, without a word, Alejandro closed the distance between himself and Aria.
She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.
His hand cupped her face, firm but not harsh. He leaned in, and his lips touched hers.
It wasn’t like Ethan’s. Not forced, not sloppy. Alejandro’s kiss was deliberate like everything else he did. Slow at first, testing, then deepening, drawing her into a fire she hadn’t known she could feel.
Her body betrayed her. She didn’t push him away. She trembled, but she let him kiss her, her lips parting against his, her pulse dizzying.
By the time he pulled back, she was shaking.
Alejandro’s eyes burned into hers. “That,” he said softly, “is how a man takes a kiss.”
Her cheeks burned. Her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. She hated him more than ever in that moment because part of her had wanted it.
Ethan stared, fury written all over his face. “You ”
“Leave,” Alejandro cut him off, his voice razor-sharp.
Ethan hesitated. Then, with a glare that promised this wasn’t over, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
The silence that followed was heavier than before. Aria couldn’t look at Alejandro. Couldn’t look at anyone.
Her lips still tingled.
Alejandro finally stepped back, giving her space. But his presence didn’t fade. His eyes lingered on her like a brand, marking her, claiming her.
Dinner ended soon after, though Aria barely tasted a thing. When Alejandro rose, she followed, her legs weak but her head spinning.
Later that night, she couldn’t sleep. She paced her room, her lips raw from biting them, her chest aching with confusion.
A knock sounded on her door. She froze.
It opened without permission. Alejandro stepped inside, holding a thin stack of papers in one hand. His face was unreadable, but his eyes were darker than she’d ever seen them.
He walked to the fireplace, set the papers down, and struck a match.
Aria gasped as flames devoured the documents. The firelight danced across Alejandro’s face, making him look both beautiful and terrifying.
She couldn’t find her voice until the last sheet crumbled to ash. “What did you just burn?” she whispered.
Alejandro turned, his expression calm again. But his eyes… his eyes burned hotter than the fire.
“Ethan’s family contract,” he said simply.
Her heart dropped. “Why?”
He stepped closer, slow and certain, stopping only inches from her. She had to tilt her chin up to meet his gaze.
“Because by tomorrow,” he murmured, his voice like velvet and steel, “you’ll belong to me.”
Aria’s breath caught.
He turned and left, the door closing softly behind him, leaving her staring at the ashes in the fireplace.
Her whole body shook.
Because for the first time, she realized Alejandro wasn’t just a man who wanted her. He was a man who would burn everything and anyone that stood in his way.
And she had no idea how long she could survive being wanted like that.
- Writer
