Everything in me went still. Not the bad kind. The kind where the entire world zeroes in on one thing and tells you: don’t move, don’t speak, don’t blink. Just feel it.
Those words didn’t come from a place of seduction.
They came from truth.
Raw. Real.
She could’ve asked for time. Distance. Space.
Instead, she asked for me.
I took a step toward her. Careful. Controlled. Like she might spook if I moved too fast.
But Kennedy Maddox? She didn’t spook easy.
She stood her ground, even if her hands were trembling slightly by her sides. That softness in her frame was a lie. I knew it. I’d always known it.
And still… she looked small here. Not weak—vulnerable. And fuck if that didn’t make me want to wrap my arms around her and make the rest of the world disappear.
This moment—it was ours.
And no one else had a say in it.
I stepped in closer, closing the space between us inch by inch.
Every breath felt loaded. Every heartbeat hit harder than the last. The air practically crackled with it—raw tension wrapped in need and something deeper that neither of us dared name yet.
I reached out, slow and careful, giving her every chance to flinch, to pull away, to tell me not yet.
She didn’t move.
That alone almost undid me.
My fingers grazed her cheek, brushing her hair back and tucking it gently behind her ear. The way she tilted her head ever so slightly into the touch—like she didn’t even realize she was doing it—sent heat spiraling down my spine. Not lust. Not just that. Something worse. Something more dangerous.
“Still nervous?” I asked, voice low and rough from everything I wasn’t saying.
Her eyes flicked away for a second before returning to mine. “A little.”
I let the corner of my mouth twitch—half smile, half something else. “Good,” I murmured. “Means this isn’t nothing.”
I took her hand and started toward the bedroom. Steps in sync like we were walking into something sacred. And we were. This wasn’t about sex. Not really.
It was about trust.
I turned to face her once we were inside. The room was dim—just enough light to catch the gold in her eyes, the pink flush of uncertainty on her cheeks.
I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
A vow.
Then one to her cheek.
A tether.
Then her jaw, just barely brushing skin.
And it wrecked me.
