Chapter 94
Chapter 94:
“We are this,” he said.
He kissed her.
It wasn’t gentle. It was a claim — hard, demanding, and desperate. He kissed her like a man trying to brand his name onto her soul.
Eliza melted. She grabbed his lapels and pulled him closer, opening her mouth and letting him in. It was a release of weeks of tension, of fear, of longing that had never been put into words.
T𝘩e 𝖻e𝗌𝘁 𝗿e𝘃іew𝗌 𝗈ո
Dallas groaned low in his throat. He lifted her effortlessly, and her legs wrapped around his waist by instinct.
“I want you,” he murmured against her lips. “I want to keep you here. I want to lock the doors and never let you go back to him p>
“I have to go,” she gasped, even as she pressed herself closer.
Dallas kissed her one last time, stealing the breath from her lungs. Then he let her slide down slowly, her body dragging against his.
He smoothed her hair, running his fingers through the strands he had disheveled. He wiped a smudge from her lip with his thumb.
He turned and released the stop button.
The elevator hummed back to life. They stood in silence, chests heaving, watching the floor numbers descend. 30… 20… 10…
The doors opened at the lobby. The security guard glanced up, took one look at them, and quickly looked away.
“Go,” Dallas said, his voice rough. “Before I stop you again p>
Eliza walked quickly to the waiting cab. Her lips were swollen, her body still humming with electricity.
Dallas returned to the penthouse later, the adrenaline fading and leaving a dull ache in its place.
He heard sobbing from Azalea’s room. He knocked. “Azalea p>
“Go away!” she wailed.
Dallas opened the door. Azalea was sprawled across her bed, mascara streaked down her face, clutching her phone like it was a live grenade.
“I asked him,” she hiccupped. “I asked Liam to come with me to the gallery opening next week p>
Dallas stiffened. “And p>
“He said I’m a wonderful person, but that he’s not available. That his focus is — ‘elsewhere right now.’” She threw a pillow at the wall. “He said it like a business email. It’s because he’s in love with someone else. I just know it p>
Dallas walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. He put an arm around her, the gesture slightly stiff. “He’s an idiot p>
“He’s perfect!” Azalea sobbed into his shirt.
Dallas patted her back. But his mind was already moving. He knew exactly where Liam’s focus lay. He had watched the doctor’s eyes follow Eliza across a hospital room.
A new complication. If Azalea ever figured out that her crush was in love with her stepmother —
Dallas closed his eyes. One war at a time. First Anson. Then the doctor.