"I just want to go back now," Chloe repeated, her voice trembling with a mixture of exhaustion and defiance.
Xavier’s expression, which had briefly settled into a post-coital calm, instantly refroze. A sharp, crystalline layer of hostility returned to his gaze as he stepped closer to her. "Are you truly that desperate to leave? Or are you just terrified of that man seeing exactly what we were doing in there? Is it the guilt of your ruined makeup, or the fear of his reaction that has you so shaken?"
Chloe’s hands clenched into tight fists at her sides. The air between them crackled with the weight of things left unsaid for weeks. "What does this have to do with him?" she demanded, her voice rising with an indignation she could no longer suppress. "Why do you insist on tethering me to a gh
