Axel gently lifted her chin, forcing her eyes back to his.
His heart tightened when he saw sadness and disappointnt flash in her eyes.
Instantly, he could guess what she was thinking.
"Eve, there is no relationship between that woman and . I never sleep with her," he said firmly, his tone calm yet carrying unmistakable intensity.
Evelyn searched his gaze. Looking for deception. Looking for hesitation. Looking for anything that might betray uncertainty.
But Axel’s eyes remained steady. Serious. Unwavering.
"I asked about that night," he continued quietly, "because sothing doesn’t make sense." Axel’s thumb brushed gently against her cheek, his voice dropping into sothing deeper, more unsettling.
Evelyn’s heart pounded. "What do you an?" She asked, confused.
"Earlier, you said your body felt strange," Axel asked quietly.
The atmosphere between them subtly changed, as if the room itself leaned in to listen.
Evelyn’s breathing slowed. She nodded, fingers curling slightly against her skirt, and whispered, "Yes..."
Axel’s gaze darkened, not with anger but with mory.
"And I rember sothing unusual about that night, too," he admitted, his voice low, asured. "Just like you, I suddenly felt a headache. It hit out of nowhere, sharp and relentless. That’s why I returned to my suite."
Evelyn’s eyes widened instantly.
"Soone drugged us?" she asked, surprise and disbelief colliding in her voice.
"I suppose so." Axel drew a shallow breath, his expression tightening slightly. "When I returned to my room, I felt... wrong."
He paused, searching for words that did not exist in polite language.
"My body was on fire. My thoughts were blurred, distorted. And when I saw a girl on my bed..."
His jaw flexed faintly.
"I couldn’t resist her as she threw herself into my arms."
Evelyn’s eyes widened even further, and her hand flew to cover her mouth.
Inside her mind, chaos erupted.
’It was , right? Oh my god! How could this happen to us?’ She scread in her mind.
She couldn’t say anything; she remained frozen, heart pounding, waiting for him to finish.
A sour smile appeared on Axel’s face, mixed with irony and sothing much more exposed.
"Even though my mind couldn’t function normally," he continued, "and even though the room was too dark for to see you clearly..."
His voice softened.
"I felt that night was the best sex I’ve ever had."
The confession hung in the air like a spark.
"The feeling. The warmth. The way you responded to ." His eyes drifted briefly, lost in recollection. "Even your screams..."
Evelyn’s pulse thundered.
"All those mories tortured afterward," Axel murmured. "Not because I regretted it... but because I couldn’t forget it."
Silence swallowed them whole.
Evelyn’s eyes slowly t his.
It was impossible to define the storm of emotions crashing inside her. Shock warred with embarrassnt, confusion tangled with an undeniable warmth blooming beneath her ribs. Hearing Axel Knight, a man who rarely spoke of feelings without a strategic purpose, confess sothing so raw and so disarmingly honest left her montarily defenseless.
She had expected tension.
Perhaps awkwardness.
Not this.
Not sincerity wrapped in vulnerability.
Axel suddenly chuckled, the sound warm and unexpectedly gentle. He reached for her hand and squeezed it softly, grounding both of them.
His gaze lingered on their intertwined fingers before lifting back to her face.
His eyes bead now, illuminated by a quiet, private light.
"You can believe or not," he said, amusent flickering faintly beneath his seriousness. "But since I slept with you that night..."
His thumb brushed against her skin.
"I haven’t been able to sleep with another woman."
Evelyn blinked. She was too shocked to hear this.
Axel’s tone remained calm, yet utterly sincere. "I just never felt aroused like most n. Not even once. No matter how many tis I tried to convince myself that it was because of psychological stress, extre exhaustion, or any other logical reasons."
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"I eventually ca to the conclusion that my body simply refused to cooperate."
Despite the gravity of the conversation, Evelyn’s lips twitched slightly. Trust Axel Knight to describe sexual dysfunction like a business inconvenience.
"But when we t the second ti," he continued, voice softening, "everything changed instantly. Everything suddenly clicked."
His gaze locked onto hers.
"That ti... I felt sothing."
A subtle warmth radiated between them.
"Well," Axel added dryly, "you know what happened after that."
Evelyn’s cheeks flared with heat.
mories surfaced uninvited.
That wild, reckless night at the hotel. Their encounter at Willowcrest. The intensity. The madness. How Axel could unravel her composure with nothing more than a glance.
She could not speak, but the warmth spreading across her face betrayed everything.
Axel noticed imdiately.
A slow, knowing smile curved his lips.
When his hand rose to gently sandwich her face, Evelyn’s breath caught sharply.
Her heart raced. Faster. Louder.
As though ti itself had reversed.
As though this were the first ti they had ever stood this close.
As though they were returning to that fragile, terrifying, beautiful mont when neither pride nor fear had yet built walls between them.
Before Evelyn could form a single thought, she saw Axel’s face move closer.
Too close.
Close enough that she could feel the warmth of his breath teasing against her skin.
Her eyelashes fluttered instinctively.
Then—
His lips pressed against hers.
The kiss was warm, tender, devastatingly gentle.
Gone was the urgency that once defined their encounters. Gone was the hunger sharpened by distance and unresolved tension. This kiss carried sothing deeper, sothing steadier—affection, reassurance, love spoken without words.
For a few suspended monts, the world around them ceased to exist. Only warmth and intimacy. Only closeness. Only them.
When they finally pulled apart, both slightly breathless, reality returned in soft, reluctant waves.
They sat up straight again, though the lingering electricity between them remained undeniable.
Evelyn was the first to speak.
"Did you find out who drugged us and what their motive was?" she asked quietly, almost like a whisper. That question was sothing she had always wondered about but had tried to ignore.
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