He tucked her hair behind her ear, lips grazing the sensitive spot just beneath it. Then he paused, his mouth still close. “Huh,” he murmured, his voice low and thoughtful.
“What?”
“You’ve got a little beauty mark here, tucked away behind your ear,” he said, fingertips brushing her skin.
“You’re cataloguing me now?” Priya replied playfully.
“Every detail.”
Stretched out beside Ethan, legs entangled in her small bed, Priya felt as if she were peering over the edge of a dream. No figment of her imagination could have prepared her for the sight before her—Ethan Knight sprawled out on her bed, his presence clashing with the floral pillowcases and lavender walls.
“So, this is your room.” Ethan adjusted his pillow and leaned back.
Priya shifted, resting her head on his chest. “Until I get back on my feet.”
“And there’s your window,” he declared.
Priya gave him a puzzled look.
“The morning after my going-away party, right before I left for New York, I stood out there,” he said. “I had my backpack on, and my escape route planned, but as I rolled my motorcycle out of Knight Estates, I found myself turning into Moksha.” A wistful smile formed on Ethan’s lips. “I found a twig and thought I’d tap on your window. But I couldn’t figure out which one was yours, and I didn’t want to get you into trouble, so I turned around and left.”
“Really?” Priya asked, looking up at him. “Why did you want to see me?”
“I wanted to say goodbye.”
“So romantic. Except for the part where you gave up and left,” she joked. “But now here you are. In my room. I still can’t believe it.”
“It’s a very scholarly room.” Ethan gestured at the pile of textbooks on her desk.
“I’m taking some courses online. App development. Stuff like that,” Priya explained.
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to design your dream guy, line by line.”
“Why in the world would I do that when I’ve got the ultimate prototype right here?” she said, giving his bicep an appreciative squeeze. “Premium model…” Her hand glided over his chest. “Impressive specs…” She traced the contours of his abs. “Just need to run some live performance tests…” As her fingers inched lower, Ethan grabbed her wrist.
“Easy now,” Ethan said, his voice a dark murmur. “You’re about to initiate a full launch sequence.”
Before Priya could go any further, Ethan’s phone buzzed yetagain. “You should check that.” She sighed, propping herself up on her elbow. “Someone’s been trying to reach you all afternoon.”
“Right.” Ethan dragged his attention to his phone. “It’s my social media manager asking for a new photo,” he said, scrolling through his messages. “Apparently, my absence is starting to fuel rumors.”
He began typing, reading his response out loud. “I’ll…send…one…soon.” Then he set the phone down, his focus shifting fully to Priya. “Now, let’s pick up where we left off.”
Stretched out on his side, the quilt barely clinging to his hips, Ethan looked like a Renaissance sculpture carved from light and shadow—sun-warmed skin stretched over chiseled muscle, every inch of him gloriously bare. The light from the window skimmed his jaw, poured over his chest and dipped into the valleys of his abs. His hair was a tousled mess, his jaw dusted with stubble, and that lazy, knowing smile? Yeah, she was done for.
“You’re ridiculous,” Priya murmured with a shaky laugh. “No one should look this good without a filter.” She grabbed Ethan’s phone, swiped the camera open, and pointed the lens at him.
Ethan’s smile curled at the edges, slow and sinful. Then his gaze shifted—darker, hungrier—and Priya forgot to breathe. She felt the heat of his stare straight through the lens, in her chest, in her pulse, curling between her thighs. That look didn’t flirt. It claimed. There was no softness, no sweetness. Just a raw, consuming need that promised he’d take her apart with his hands, his mouth, his body, and take his sweet, dirty time doing it.
“Holy hell,” Priya whispered, her breath catching as she took the photo. “Do you even know what you’re doing to me right now?”
Ethan didn’t answer. He grabbed the phone and tossed it aside. Reality slipped away as they kissed, leaving only the electrifying graze of lips and the tangled burn of desire. Ethan’s phonebuzzed again, but neither of them paid attention. It was only when the notifications came flooding in, one after the other, that they pulled apart.
“What the hell is going on?” Ethan muttered, grabbing his phone and scrolling through the messages. “Fuck,” he said, his brow furrowing. “The photo you took auto-synced to my cloud storage. My social media manager saw it, thought it was the photo I said I’d send him, and posted it everywhere.”
Priya stared at him, mouth slightly open. “Are you serious? That was aprivatemoment between us. And now it’s up for everyone to see?” A wave of disbelief rolled through her, followed by the urge to see it with her own eyes.
As Ethan worked through the avalanche of notifications, Priya unlocked her phone and pulled up his Instagram profile. Among the carefully curated posts, there it was—the photo she’d taken, raw and unfiltered, a glimpse of something they hadn’t meant to share. There was no caption, but it didn’t matter. It was crystal clear that Ethan Knight was enjoying a very personal, intimate afternoon.
