The Tutor's Temptation (English Edition)

Secret Admissions ( Kyle's Pov)

“You really think I didn’t see my name in there, Xena?”

I watched her freeze mid-equation, pencil hovering above the paper like it had suddenly turned into a live wire. The tutoring room felt smaller than usual, the afternoon light slanting through the tall windows of the Voltaire estate library, catching on her flushed cheeks. She looked up at me with those wide, stormy eyes that always pretended to challenge me but betrayed something softer underneath. Damn, she was infuriatingly beautiful when cornered.

Xena Voltaire, the hotel empire princess who could buy half the city without blinking, sat there in her designer blouse and perfectly tousled hair, acting like the ground wasn’t shifting beneath her. I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed, fighting the smirk that threatened to break free. This was supposed to be another dull session drilling calculus into her stubborn head. Instead, my mind kept replaying fragments from that notebook she’d nearly sacrificed her soul to protect yesterday.

Her voice came out in a squeak. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kyle. You must be imagining things again.”

Imagining things. As if my memory hadn’t etched every swooping letter of my name into my brain. The way she wrote “Kyle” with those delicate, girly curves, surrounded by tiny hearts and frantic doodles that screamed unspoken longing. And that line... the one that hit like a punch to the chest: Sometimes I think Kyle looks at me like he already knows the things I’m too scared to admit. It looped in my head on repeat, a dangerous melody I couldn’t shake.

I stood up slowly, rounding the table until I was close enough to catch the faint scent of her vanilla perfume. My heart hammered harder than it had any right to. This wasn’t me. I was the strict tutor, the guy who kept things professional, who saw her as nothing more than a spoiled heiress needing discipline. Yet here I was, obsessed with the secret pages where I starred as both villain and hero in her private world.

“Drop the act,” I said, voice low and steady. “You wrote about me. About how I look at you. Don’t pretend it didn’t happen, because that notebook of yours is burned into my mind now.”

Her lips parted in shock, color draining then flooding back into her face in the most adorable way. She clutched her current notebook to her chest like a shield, but it was too late. I’d glimpsed enough to know the truth. Xena wasn’t just scribbling random thoughts. I lived in those pages, tangled up in her fears, her fantasies, her quiet admissions that made my blood run hot.

A soft laugh escaped me despite myself, the romcom absurdity of it all hitting me. Here was this powerful girl who commanded boardrooms and luxury suites, reduced to nervous glances because her crush had cracked her diary code. It was thrilling, this power shift. Possessive heat curled in my gut at the thought of her staying up late, pen flying across paper, dreaming of me.

“Kyle, please... you had no right,” she whispered, but her eyes darted to my mouth for a split second, giving her away completely.

“No right? You dropped it right in front of me. Twice.” I stepped closer, towering over her seated form, my hand gently but firmly tilting her chin up so she couldn’t escape. Her skin was warm under my fingers, sending sparks racing up my arm. “And now I can’t stop thinking about it. What else is in there, Xena? How many times did you write my name? Did you describe the way my voice makes you shiver during these sessions? Or how you imagine me breaking all my rules for you?”

She swallowed hard, her breath catching in little hitches that made me want to pull her into my arms and never let go. Emotional waves crashed through me, unexpected and fierce. I’d always kept her at arm’s length, annoyed by her privilege and defiance. But discovering I haunted her thoughts flipped everything. I felt thrilled, like a hunter who’d stumbled upon hidden treasure meant only for him. Possessive too, because damn it, those secrets were mine now. She was mine to unravel, page by secret page.

The comedy of the situation bubbled up again as she tried to rally, pushing her chair back with a scrape. “You’re impossible! One little peek and suddenly you’re acting like you own my brain. It’s just... doodles. Silly girl stuff. Nothing serious.”

But her voice trembled, and the way she bit her lip screamed otherwise. I could picture it all so vividly: Xena alone in her lavish room, cheeks pink as she poured her heart onto those lines. Me as the strict tutor who unknowingly became the center of her emotional storm. It made me swoon in a way I’d never admit out loud, this mix of tenderness and raw want.

I sat on the edge of the table, right in front of her, knees brushing hers. “Silly? That line about destiny equations and hearts around my name didn’t feel silly. It felt real. Like you’re scared I might see the real you, the one who’s not all heiress armor and sharp comebacks.”

Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes, not from sadness but from the overwhelming exposure. My chest tightened with emotion. I wanted to tease her more, to make her laugh and blush until she admitted everything, yet I also ached to protect this vulnerable side she hid from the world. Thrilling obsession took hold. I needed more. More glances, more writings, more of her unraveling just for me.

“Kyle... you’re making this so complicated,” she murmured, voice barely above a whisper, her hand accidentally grazing mine on the table. Electricity jumped between us.

I captured her fingers lightly, possessive instinct flaring. “Good. Because I’m not letting this go. Not now that I know I’m already inside your story. The hero, the villain, whatever you need me to be. I want to read every chapter you’ve written about us.”

Her eyes locked on mine, wide and sparkling with a cocktail of fear, excitement, and something deeper that mirrored my own growing fixation. The air crackled with unspoken promises, the kind that could turn tutoring sessions into stolen moments and late-night confessions.

She leaned in just a fraction, lips trembling with the words she fought to hold back. “What if I’m not ready for you to know everything yet? What if admitting it changes us forever?”

I smiled slowly, heart racing, the obsession blooming into full possessive need. The room faded around us, leaving only her flushed face and the magnetic pull I could no longer deny. This was our romcom beginning, messy and charged, filled with swoony tension and emotional depths I craved to explore.

“Then tell me anyway, Xena. Right now. What else do you write about me when you think no one’s watching?”