I knew it was wrong the moment his hand closed around my wrist.
Adrian Blackwood, my sister's husband, should not have been standing this close to me, his fingers warm against my skin, his breath brushing my ear as though he had every right to be there. The hallway was dark, the mansion too quiet, and the space between us felt charged, alive with something dangerous and aching.
"Don't," I whispered, even as my body betrayed me by leaning closer.
He didn't let go.
His grip tightened slightly, not rough, not gentle, possessive. As though he had already decided I belonged to him.
"You should go to bed, Ariana," he said, his voice low, controlled… strained. "Before we do something we can't undo."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Because the truth was, we had already crossed that line. Maybe not with our bodies yet, but with the way his eyes followed me. With the way my breath always caught when he walked into a room. With the way the air between us burned every time Vanessa wasn't around.
And tonight… Vanessa was gone.
She had left for a week. A business trip, she said. A lie, I suspected. My sister never stayed anywhere longer than she needed to, and she hadn't looked back when she walked out of this house.
That should have made things easier.
Instead, it made them worse.
"I was just getting water," I said, trying to sound normal, trying to ignore the heat curling low in my stomach.
Adrian's eyes dropped to my lips.
Just for a second.
But that second shattered something inside me.
"You're shaking," he murmured.
I hadn't noticed. Not until he slid his thumb along the inside of my wrist, right where my pulse raced wildly beneath my skin.
"I shouldn't be here," I said again.
Neither of us moved.
The mansion had never felt so small.
Three weeks earlier, I had arrived at Blackwood Estate with nothing but a suitcase and the quiet humiliation of losing my job.
Vanessa had offered me the guest room as if it were charity.
"You can stay until you get back on your feet," she'd said, her smile sharp, calculating. "Adrian won't mind."
Adrian had said nothing at all.
He rarely did.
From the moment I stepped into his world, he had been distant, cold, controlled, intimidating in the way powerful men often were. The kind of man who commanded rooms without raising his voice. The kind women, whispered about.
The kind I should never have wanted.
But something about him felt… broken.
I saw it in the way he stayed late in his study long after the lights went out. In the way he barely touched my sister when she was around. In the way loneliness clung to him like a shadow.
And God help me, I felt drawn to it.
Now, standing inches from him in the dark, I could feel the truth pressing down on me.
"I'll let go," Adrian said softly. "If you ask me to."
I opened my mouth.
No sound came out.
Because the thought of him stepping away, of this moment ending, felt like loss.
His jaw tightened.
"That's what I thought."
His hand slid up from my wrist, slow enough to make my breath hitch, until his fingers brushed my forearm… my elbow… my shoulder.
Every nerve in my body lit up.
I should have stopped him.
Instead, I whispered his name.
That was all it took.
Adrian's control cracked.
He backed me against the wall so suddenly my breath knocked out of me, his body shielding mine, his palm braced beside my head. His face hovered inches from mine, eyes dark, burning with something raw and desperate.
"You don't know what you're doing to me," he said.
"I do," I whispered back.
And I did.
I knew exactly how forbidden this was.
That made it worse.
The kiss happened like a sin we had both been waiting for.
Not soft.
Not hesitant.
His mouth crashed into mine with restrained fury, years of silence and denial unravelling in a single breathless moment. I gasped against him, fingers curling into his suit jacket, my body responding before my mind could catch up.
This wasn't a gentle mistake.
This was hunger.
His kiss was deep, consuming, his control fraying as though he had been starving for this—for me. I felt it in the way his body pressed closer, in the way his hand slid to my waist, gripping me like he was afraid I might disappear.
My knees weakened.
I clung to him.
God, I clung to him.
Somewhere in my mind, Vanessa's face flashed like a warning.
But Adrian's mouth never left mine.
He groaned softly, the sound vibrating through me, sending heat flooding between my thighs. My heart raced, my skin burned, and every boundary I had sworn to keep dissolved.
This was wrong.
This was unforgivable.
This was everything I didn't know I needed.
He pulled back suddenly, breathing hard, his forehead resting against mine.
"This has to stop," he said hoarsely.
My lips tingled where he had kissed me.
"Yes," I agreed.
Neither of us moved.
His thumb brushed my jaw.
"One step further," he murmured, "and I won't be able to walk away."
I swallowed.
"Then don't."
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His eyes darkened.
The silence that followed felt dangerous.
We never made it to the bedroom.
Not yet.
But we might as well have.
His hand slid lower, resting on my hip, pulling me flush against him. I could feel how badly he wanted me, how tightly he was holding back. The tension between us stretched thin, ready to snap.
My thoughts scattered.
My body burned.
Every breath felt like a plea.
And then,
His phone rang.
The sound shattered the moment like glass.
Adrian froze.
I pulled back instantly, guilt slamming into me so hard it made me dizzy.
He cursed under his breath, reached into his pocket, and glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
"Vanessa," he said.
My blood ran cold.
He answered.
"Yes?"
I watched his face as he listened. Watched his jaw tighten, his eyes flick to me.
"What do you mean you're coming back early?"
My heart stopped.
Vanessa was coming home.
And I was standing in her house, my lips swollen from kissing her husband, my body still aching for more.
I had no idea then that this night would change everything.
That one kiss would bind me to Adrian Blackwood in ways I could never escape.
Or that weeks from now, I would stare at two pink lines and realise,
I was carrying the child of my sister's billionaire husband.