Touch Me Again
645 Words
By the time dinner ended, the storm had softened into a slow drizzle.
But the tension between them had only grown worse.
Isabella stood beside Damian outside the restaurant entrance while the city glowed wet and gold around them. Cars passed slowly through the rain-slick streets, headlights reflecting in shattered lines across the pavement.
Neither of them seemed ready to say goodnight.
Which felt dangerous.
Damian slipped one hand into his pocket while watching her with that same dark, consuming focus.
“You’re thinking too hard again,” he murmured.
“You make that unavoidable.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“What’s happening in your head?”
She hesitated.
Too many things.
The way his voice affected her. The way he listened. The terrifying relief she felt around him despite every red flag screaming at her to run.
“You don’t feel real,” she admitted quietly.
His expression changed slightly at that.
“Explain.”
“You act like…” She searched for the words. “Like I’m something important.”
“You are.”
The immediate answer stole her breath.
Damian stepped closer slowly, careful enough that she noticed.
Like he was trying not to overwhelm her.
It should not have mattered so much.
But it did.
“You look at me like you’re obsessed,” she whispered.
“I am obsessed.”
“You say that too casually.”
“It stopped scaring me the moment you kissed me back.”
Heat flooded through her chest.
God.
Everything with him felt too intense. Too honest.
The dangerous part was that she was beginning to crave the intensity instead of resisting it.
Damian’s eyes drifted briefly to her mouth before returning to hers.
“Tell me to take you home.”
Her pulse quickened instantly.
“What?”
“Tell me to walk away.” His voice lowered. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to kiss you again.”
A sharp shiver moved through her.
The city noise faded around them.
There was only him.
Waiting.
Barely holding himself together.
“You act like kissing me is some unbearable thing,” she said softly.
His jaw tightened.
“You have no idea.”
The honesty in his voice unraveled something inside her.
Before she could think better of it, Isabella stepped closer until barely any space remained between them.
Damian went completely still.
Dangerously still.
“Then maybe,” she whispered, “you should stop resisting.”
That was all it took.
His hand slid firmly around her waist as he pulled her against him and kissed her.
Hard.
Possessive.
Like restraint had finally snapped.
Isabella gasped softly against his mouth as Damian deepened the kiss instantly, one hand tangling into her hair while rain misted softly around them.
The world tilted.
People passed on the sidewalk nearby, cars moved through the streets, somewhere music played faintly from a distant bar—
None of it mattered.
Only him.
Only this.
Damian kissed like a man starving.
Every touch carried too much feeling. Too much need.
And Isabella kissed him back just as desperately.
When he finally pulled away, both of them were breathing unevenly.
His forehead rested briefly against hers.
“You’re becoming a very serious problem for me,” he murmured roughly.
She tried to steady her breathing. “You keep saying things like that.”
“Because you keep making them true.”
His thumb brushed lightly along her cheekbone.
Gentle again.
Always somehow gentler than she expected.
That contradiction was becoming unbearable.
“How can you be both terrifying and careful at the same time?” she whispered.
Damian looked at her like the answer hurt.
“Because hurting you would destroy me.”
The confession settled deep inside her chest.
And for the first time, Isabella realized something truly dangerous:
She was falling for him too.
- Writer
