CRUEL OBSESSION

Chapter thirty

Chapter 30

The city outside was alive with lights, but inside the study, the world had narrowed to the space between Damien and Sienna. The scent of his cologne clung to the air, sharp and dark, wrapping around her like a chain she couldn’t escape.

His forehead rested against hers, their breaths mingling, uneven. For a man who prided himself on control, Damien’s composure was cracking at the edges, and Sienna could see every fracture.

She whispered, almost afraid to break the fragile spell, “Damien…”

He silenced her with another kiss—not soft this time, but urgent, desperate. His lips moved against hers like a man starved, and she found herself answering with equal fervor, her hands sliding up the firm line of his chest, curling into his shirt as though holding on to him could steady her.

But just as suddenly, he tore his mouth from hers, pacing back a step as if distance could save him. His chest rose and fell sharply.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you,” he muttered, his voice low, ragged. “I told myself this wouldn’t happen.”

Sienna’s throat tightened. She wrapped her arms around herself, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Then why did you?”

His gaze snapped to hers, burning with something that made her knees weak. “Because I can’t stop.”

The words hit her like a strike to the heart. He looked away almost instantly, as though ashamed of the admission, but the damage was already done. She had seen the raw truth in his eyes.

“Do you even hear yourself?” she asked softly. “You push me away, you freeze me out, but the moment I get too far, you pull me back. You don’t want me, yet you can’t let me go. What am I supposed to do with that, Damien?”

The air grew heavier with each word, the silence stretching taut between them. Damien raked a hand through his hair, a rare c***k in his usually pristine composure.

“You think this is easy for me?” His voice sharpened, slicing through the stillness. “You think I don’t want to keep you at arm’s length? But every time you look at me, every time you breathe near me, it—” He stopped himself, jaw clenching, as if the rest of the confession was too dangerous to speak aloud.

Sienna’s chest ached, but she didn’t look away. She stepped closer, close enough that the heat of him brushed against her skin. “Then stop pretending. Stop acting like I’m just some burden you were forced to marry. Because I see through it. I see you.”

Her words were quiet, but they struck harder than any scream.

Damien froze. For a long moment, he didn’t move, didn’t breathe. His eyes, those storm-tossed eyes, searched hers with something that looked too much like fear. Then, slowly, he reached out—his fingertips brushing against her cheek, so softly it made her heart stutter.

“You shouldn’t,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t want to see me.”

“Maybe I can’t help it.”

The confession slipped out before she could take it back. And once it was out, she didn’t want to.

Something in Damien broke then. With a low curse, he cupped her face fully, pulling her into another kiss. This one wasn’t desperate—it was deep, lingering, almost reverent. His thumb stroked along her jaw, anchoring her as though she were the only real thing in his world.

Sienna melted into him, her hands sliding up to cradle the back of his neck, drawing him closer still. The kiss stretched, slow and consuming, until the edges of her body felt blurred, until there was no air between them.

When he finally pulled back, his lips hovered against hers, their breaths mingling. His voice was hoarse, almost pleading. “If I give in to this… I won’t be able to stop.”

Her heart thundered so loudly she swore he could hear it. “Then don’t stop.”

Damien’s breath caught, his hands tightening on her waist as though testing the truth of her words. His restraint warred with his desire in his eyes, a battle raging silently, but Sienna could feel the outcome in the way his body leaned into hers, in the tremor of his fingers.

He pressed his forehead to hers again, eyes closed, breathing her in like she was oxygen and he was drowning. “You have no idea what you’re asking of me.”

“Then show me,” she whispered, her courage trembling but real.

Damien’s grip flexed against her hips, and for a long, suspended moment, it felt as though the world might shatter around them.

But instead of claiming her, he pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, his own burning with hunger and torment. “Not tonight.”

The words cut sharper than she expected, but the way he said them—pained, as if he were denying himself more than her—kept her from recoiling.

Her lips parted. “Why not?”

His jaw tightened. He smoothed a thumb across her cheek, almost tender, before pulling away completely. “Because if I touch you tonight, I won’t stop until there’s nothing left of either of us.”

And with that, he turned and walked out of the study, leaving Sienna trembling in the silence, her heart both broken and blazing.