“Cassidy?” His fingers brushed my chin, tilting my face up to meet his gaze once more. “Are you still the woman I love? The woman I still kiss every night?”
“I am still me, love. I am still Cassidy Salem Bentley.” I waited for him. I waited five seconds to pass. Ten. Thirty. Sixty.
A minute has gone between us, and finally, his expression softened. The anger momentarily subsided as he searched my eyes. “Then what is it about, Cassidy? What aren't you telling me?”
The vulnerability in his voice caught me off guard. For a moment, the walls I had built to shield my truths began to crumble, threatening to expose the tangled mess beneath.
But I couldn't. Not yet. There was too much at stake, too much that he couldn't understand.
I pulled away gently, creating a small distance between me and him. “I... I need time, Zarion. Just give me some time.”
He studied me for a lingering moment, his gaze both gilded in frustration and something deeper. Something I couldn't quite decipher.
He did not respond. He just turned away and retrieved his glass of whiskey, taking a long sip. I watched him for a moment, my heart heavy with the weight of our unspoken truths.
As I turned toward the shower once more, I couldn't help but wonder how much longer I could keep up the charade—how much longer I could dance on the edge of deception before everything came crashing down.
***
I walked back into the room after my not-so-refreshing bath, my heart pounding in my chest like a bass drum at a rock concert. The air felt colder, every nerve in my body electrified.
Zarion was there, as I had left him, engrossed in a book. He never spoke again. The last words he uttered is the question I only answered with the phrase “I need time”. His presence alone sent a shiver down my spine, the way his dark hair fell over his forehead, the intensity in his eyes as they scanned the pages. I didn't want to admit it, but I was drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
He looked up as I entered. He was sitting against the headboard now, his arm folded beneath his head like a makeshift pillow. My gaze involuntarily trailed over the contours of his biceps, his muscles shifting slightly with the movement.
I quickly looked away, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
I cleared my throat, trying to regain some semblance of composure. “I'm sorry about what I, uh, did in the Moon Goddess Temple,” I whispered, shrinking to where I am standing. My voice is barely audible even to my own ears and I wished the ground would devour me whole this instant.
“I was just being a paranoid... girlfriend.” Girlfriend. I emphasized that word because, in the first place, I am not his mate.
I am no one’s fucking mate.
I bit my lower lip, my eyes darting nervously around the room. Why did I say that? Why did I think of those things?
It sounded so weak. I sounded so utterly weak. I wanted to disappear into thin air, to escape the intensity of his gaze. But a part of me, a reckless part that I barely recognized, wanted to hold his gaze, to let him see me in all my vulnerability so that he would forgive me.
But I hesitate to lift a gaze, my heart pounding louder than ever.
Then I did something that surprised even myself.
Slowly, I untied the belt of my bathrobe, letting the fabric slip from my shoulders. The cool air hit my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. I was acutely aware of every inch of my body.
His eyes, those intense eyes, were on me, tracing a path from my collarbone down to my waist.
In that moment, I felt like I was standing on the edge of a precipice, about to leap into the unknown. My cheeks flushed crimson, but I held his gaze, my resolve surprisingly steady. “I'm sorry, Zarion. Please forgive me.” I repeated, my voice stronger this time, laced with a strange emotion of defiance and uncertainty. And guilt.
‘If this can help... though, can it? Really, Cassidy?’ My own words echoed in my mind, and I couldn't believe I was doing this. I felt exposed, laid bare not just in my body, but in my emotions. My soul. The entirety of me unsheathed. The room seemed to shrink around us as the tension was so palpable that it was almost suffocating.
And yet, there was something so exhilarating about it. About the raw honesty of the moment.
Zarion's gaze held mine, his expression unreadable.
For what felt like an eternity, we were suspended in that unhinged silence. And then, with a movement that was both deliberate and cautious, he closed the book and set it aside.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood, his gaze never leaving mine. He sauntered towards me, relishing each step, closing the distance between us. My heart raced even faster and I took an involuntary step back, suddenly unsure of myself.
What the hell am I thinking?!
But he didn't stop. His eyes never left mine until there was almost no space left between us. Zarion reached out, his fingers brushing against my cheek. A jolt of electricity shot through me at his touch.
Suddenly, he pulled me to the edge of the bed and placed me into a canine-style position. Gathering a handful of strands of my hair and wrapping it around his wrist, he made me look up at him and slapped my butt once.
“You wanna do it again?” The dark voice of his, anger and lust sipping, sent something brewing down there inside me. I could feel the pain when his fist met my ass.
But when he massaged it gently, pleasure replaced the pain “N-No…” I breathed.
Zarion's head dips down so close to my ears. “I can’t hear you. Say it louder, love.” He nipped my ear and I could feel my breathing becoming faster and faster.
“I won't do it again!” I moaned when he slapped my ass, this time, twice.
“Good girl…” he pulled me back, my arms weaker than ever as I remained in this position. He was now kissing on top of me.
We kissed until we ran out of breath. He pulled out first. “Listen to me carefully, Cassidy. I will hold a grand wedding so that people would stop questioning your worth as my fucking mate. Did you hear that?”
I nodded and bit my lower lip. “Y-Yes... I heard you.” I can't believe my voice. It was full of lust and seduction and raw primal emotions that a woman would rarely lay before a man.
And yet…
“You–you’re going to marry me, Zarion?”
“As soon as possible,” he sighed.
“As soon as possible,” I tasted the urgency of his words. And Goddess, Zarion is indeed not joking,
He will marry me as soon as possible.