A Line We Shouldn't Cross
675 Words
ZANE
He should let her go.
Zane knew it the second Mira stormed out of the event hall, her dress swishing around her legs, her heels clicking furiously against the marble floor.
But he didn’t.
He followed.
Because he wasn’t done with her.
The jealousy still burned under his skin, and the way she had looked at him before walking away—**eyes blazing, breath unsteady—**he wasn’t the only one losing control.
He found her standing near the balcony doors, her hands braced against the cool glass, her body tense.
“Mira.”
She stiffened but didn’t turn. “Go back to your party, Zane.”
He exhaled slowly, stepping closer. “Not until we finish this.”
She let out a humorless laugh. “There’s nothing to finish. You don’t own me.”
His hands clenched at his sides. She was right. He didn’t.
But damn if it didn’t feel like she still belonged to him.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” His voice was low, even, but edged with something dangerous.
Finally, she turned, her dark eyes challenging. “And what am I doing, exactly?”
Zane stepped forward, crowding her against the glass. “Testing me.”
Her breath hitched. Just barely.
He caught it. Of course, he caught it.
“You wanted to see how far you could push me.” His gaze flickered to her lips, then back to her eyes. “Did you like what you found, sweetheart?”
Mira sucked in a sharp breath. “Don’t call me that.”
But her voice wasn’t steady.
He lifted a hand—slowly, deliberately—and ran his knuckles down the curve of her arm.
She shivered.
His jaw tightened. She still felt this. Still felt him.
“You want me to stop?” he murmured.
She nodded, but her body betrayed her. She didn’t step away.
Didn’t move at all.
Zane’s control was hanging by a thread.
One touch.
One word from her, and he’d lose it.
But then—she did the unthinkable.
She reached out and grabbed his tie, yanking him closer.
Zane’s breath hissed between his teeth. “Mira—”
“I hate you,” she whispered.
And then—she kissed him.
---
MIRA
She shouldn’t have done it.
She knew the second her lips crashed against his that she was playing with fire.
But it didn’t matter.
Because the second she kissed him, Zane snapped.
His hands gripped her waist, yanking her flush against him, stealing every bit of space she tried to keep between them.
He kissed her like he was claiming something. Like he had been waiting years for this moment.
Mira’s back hit the glass, cold against her overheated skin. She gasped, and he took advantage, deepening the kiss, devouring her.
His fingers dug into her hips, possessive, demanding.
She should stop this.
She should push him away.
But when his lips left hers only to trail down the curve of her throat, when his hands gripped her thighs like he was barely restraining himself—
She didn’t want him to stop.
“Mira,” he growled against her skin.
Her name, wrecked and raw, sent a violent shiver down her spine.
This was dangerous.
This was wrong.
But it was Zane.
And she had never stopped burning for him.
---
A noise in the hallway snapped her back to reality.
Mira tore herself out of Zane’s grip, breathing hard.
His chest rose and fell, his hands still curled into fists like he was fighting himself.
A moment of silence stretched between them.
Then—Mira shook her head.
“This was a mistake.”
Zane’s expression hardened. “Was it?”
She ignored the way her lips still tingled. The way her body screamed at her to go back to him.
She turned on her heel, gripping the door handle.
“I won’t do this with you again,” she said softly.
Then she walked away.
And this time, Zane didn’t stop her.
- Writer
