Not yet
980 Words
Jessica barely remembered how she made it back to the ballroom. The music swelled around her, laughter spilled from glittering mouths, champagne glasses clinked in endless toasts. Yet it all felt muted, like she was moving through water.
Her body was still humming from Alexander’s nearness, from the heat of his breath on her ear, from the way his fingers had threaded through hers as though binding her. She could still feel the ghost of his touch, seared into her skin like a brand.
But then he’d pulled away. Just when she thought she might shatter from the tension, he stepped back, leaving her aching and wanting, whispering not yet.
Not yet.
The words haunted her. They weren’t a rejection. No, they were a promise. A promise that he wanted her just not on her terms, not in that room, not so easily.
Her pulse raced even now as she drifted through the crowd, smiling politely at strangers whose names she instantly forgot. Every time she lifted her glass to her lips, the cool liquid did nothing to ease the fire in her chest.
She found herself at the edge of the ballroom, near the tall windows that overlooked the city. The glass reflected her face back at her flushed, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. She looked like a woman caught in a dream, one she was too afraid to wake from.
Jessica pressed her palm against the glass, willing the cool surface to steady her. What was she doing?
This was madness. Alexander Voss wasn’t just another man. He was dangerous. Powerful. The kind of man who drew women into his orbit only to let them burn. Even the elegant woman’s warning still echoed in her head: Alexander takes what interests him, but nothing keeps him for long.
Jessica should have listened. She should have walked away the moment his hand closed around her wrist.
But she hadn’t. Because some part of her, some reckless, hungry part she barely recognized didn’t want to.
She wanted more.
The thought made her shiver.
Her body remembered every detail: the press of his chest when he leaned close, the scent of cedar and smoke that clung to him, the quiet command in his voice when he said come with me. She hadn’t had a choice. Not really. Her legs had followed before her mind could catch up.
And that scared her.
Because it wasn’t just an attraction. It was something deeper, darker. He made her feel seen in a way that was both exhilarating and terrifying. He saw her not as the dutiful student, not as the girl with carefully polished manners, but as a woman. A woman with wants she barely dared admit.
Jessica exhaled shakily, her fingers tightening against the glass.
“Thinking of running again?”
The voice was velvet, low and teasing. Her stomach dropped.
She turned.
Alexander stood only a few feet away, his black suit tailored to perfection, his gaze fixed on her with the same unrelenting intensity that had undone her in the private lounge. Jessica’s lips parted, but no words came.
His mouth curved, faint but knowing. He stepped closer, and with each stride, her pulse climbed higher. When he was near enough that the heat of his body brushed hers, he paused, his eyes locking with hers.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said softly.
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Maybe I needed space to think.”
“Did you?” His voice lowered further, as though coaxing a secret from her lips. “Or did you need space to feel?”
Her throat went dry. The truth was too dangerous to speak aloud.
His hand lifted slowly, deliberately, and for a moment she thought he would touch her again. Her body leaned into the possibility, every nerve on edge, waiting.
But instead, he brushed a loose strand of hair from her cheek, his fingers lingering just long enough to make her knees weaken.
“You’re trembling,” he murmured.
“I’m not.”
“Liar,” he said again, the same word he had whispered in the lounge. His lips tilted in satisfaction as her body betrayed her.
Jessica swallowed hard. “You shouldn’t… You shouldn’t do this to me.”
He tilted his head, studying her. “And yet, you’re still here.”
The truth of it hit her like a blow. She should have walked away. But she hadn’t.
His hand dropped, and again, he denied her the full touch she craved. The restraint was maddening, leaving her desperate for more.
Alexander leaned close, his lips brushing the air near her temple. “Patience, Jessica,” he murmured. “Desire tastes sweeter when you wait.”
Her breath caught, her nails digging into the glass at her side.
Then, as if the night belonged entirely to him, Alexander stepped back. With one final, piercing look, he turned and disappeared into the crowd once more, leaving Jessica trembling, aching, undone.
That night, long after the gala had ended, Jessica lay awake in her bed. The city outside her apartment was quiet, but her mind was a storm.
She replayed every moment: the kiss on the balcony, the warning from the woman, the near-seduction in the lounge, the brush of his fingers against her cheek.
Her body burned with the memory. She pressed her legs together beneath the sheets, shame and desire tangling inside her.
Why him? Why now?
Jessica had worked so hard to build her life, to stay disciplined, focused, untouchable. She wasn’t the kind of girl who got swept away by dangerous men. She wasn’t. And yet she could still hear his voice, low and commanding, promising what he hadn’t yet given her. Not yet.
Her breath hitched.
Because deep down, she already knew: when the moment finally came, she wouldn’t resist him. She couldn’t.
- Writer
