Chapter Three: His Name Was James
728 Words
The rain hadn’t stopped. It tapped softly against Seraphina’s window like impatient fingers, keeping her awake long into the night. She should have been asleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw him. The way his eyes burned into hers. The brush of his fingers when he picked up her napkin. His voice low, dangerous, unforgettable.
She pressed her face into her pillow, groaning. “What is wrong with me?”
Two months of friendship with Esther, and not once had she mentioned her brother. Not once. Seraphina thought of Esther’s teasing smile at the door and felt her stomach twist. Esther knew something. But whatever it was, she hadn’t said it out loud.
A sudden knock at the window jolted her upright.
Her breath hitched. She turned slowly and froze.
He was there. Standing on the balcony as if he’d stepped straight out of her restless thoughts.
Seraphina’s heart slammed in her chest. “You -what—how did you—”
He didn’t answer right away. He pushed the window open with casual ease, stepping into her room like he belonged there. The air shifted instantly, charged with his presence.
“I told you,” he said softly, his voice curling around her like smoke. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
Her pulse hammered. “You can’t just… break into someone’s room like this!”
He tilted his head, his lips curving into that faint, dangerous smile. “If I asked, would you have let me in?”
Seraphina opened her mouth, but no words came. Because the truth was yes. Yes, she would have. She hated that she would have.
He stepped closer, shadows clinging to him. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, the pull of him. Every step he took made it harder to breathe.
“What’s your name?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
He stopped in front of her, so close she could feel the whisper of his breath against her skin. His hand rose, slow and deliberate, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Her whole body shivered.
“James,” he said at last, his voice low, intimate. “My name is James.”
Her lips parted, her breath shaky. “James…” She whispered it like a secret, tasting it, feeling the weight of it.
“Say it again,” he murmured, his eyes dark, unblinking.
Her heart was out of control. “James.”
The way he looked at her then like she was both prey and something he couldn’t resist made heat flood her veins. The air between them tightened, a thread pulled too taut.
Before she could think, he leaned closer, his lips hovering just above hers. She could smell him, warm and intoxicating, his presence overwhelming every sense.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, voice rougher now.
Seraphina’s body screamed no. Her mind, however, was a storm of panic and desire. “I—I don’t know,” she whispered.
“Then let me decide,” he said.
And he kissed her.
The world tilted. His mouth was warm, commanding, and when his hand slid to the small of her back, pulling her against him, she gasped into the kiss. Sparks shot through her body. Her hands, trembling, found his chest, solid beneath the fabric of his shirt.
The kiss deepened, urgent, consuming. Every second tangled her deeper in his spell. She had never felt anything like this fire and danger, tenderness and hunger all at once.
When he finally pulled back, both of them breathless, his lips hovered over hers, his eyes still locked on her.
“You have no idea what you’re getting into, Seraphina ,” he whispered. “And I don’t know if I can stop.”
Her heart raced. “Then… don’t.”
For a long moment, silence hung between them, thick with heat and tension. His thumb brushed her jaw, slow, deliberate. Then he kissed her again, harder this time, until she melted completely against him.
This wasn’t friendship. This wasn’t safety. This was something dangerous, forbidden, impossible to turn away from.
And yet, as his arms wrapped around her and her body answered with wild abandon, she knew she didn’t care.
She had wanted him from the moment she saw him. And now… now she had him.
- Writer
