Chapter 1 Prologue
POV Scarlett:
The storm arrived before him.
The rain slid down my skin, tracing the line of my neck, sticking to the curve of my lips. I told myself I wouldn’t look. That I wouldn’t recognize the sound of his boots breaking the silence.
But then—
“You still run when you hear me, Scarlett."
His voice was the same. Low. Sharp. Dangerous enough to make the air shake.
I turned slowly, and the streetlamp caught the water running down his jaw, the curve of his mouth half hidden by shadow. Damian. Older now. Harder. Every inch of him was a memory I’d spent years trying to forget.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, although my pulse betrayed me, quick and shallow.
He stepped forward, reducing the distance between us as if gravity itself were bowing to him.
“And yet you waited.”
“I wasn’t waiting for you.”
“Liar.”
The word fell softly, but carried the weight of all the nights we’d burned together.
My breath failed me. The rain grew stronger, soaking my dress, making the fabric stick to me like a confession. He stopped a few centimeters away, close enough for me to feel his warmth through the cold.
“Tell me,” he whispered, his eyes locked on mine. “Tell me you missed me.”
“No.”
“Then why are you shivering?”
His hand came up—didn’t touch me, just hovered near my face, the air between us heavy, alive. The smell of rain, leather, and memory filled my lungs until breathing felt like surrender.
“You still think I belong to you,” I managed to say, my voice almost swallowed by the thunder.
Damian leaned in, his warm breath brushing against my ear.
“You never stopped being mine.”
“No.” My voice came out hoarse, charged with the tension I could no longer contain.
He grabbed my wrist, pulling it sharply towards him.
“Dami...” His name faltered on my lips, but he didn't give it a chance to continue. His fingers slid to the back of my neck, tangling in my hair, while his mouth took mine. Fierce. Merciless.
He kissed me with a dark intensity, as if every second away from him was calculated torture. I gasped against him, my lips trembling under the weight of the moment, but there was no room for gentleness. Every touch, every sigh was a mark, a reaffirmation that no one could have me but him.
His hands slid up my thighs, pulling them against his roughly, without asking permission. I gasped, my eyes blazing with desire and a silent submission that only made me hotter.
His mouth slid down to my neck, biting the skin hard enough to leave marks that wouldn't disappear any time soon. Soon my hands were on his shoulders, my nails digging into the shirt he was still wearing.
His fingers ran down the inside of my thighs, feeling me tremble as he touched my pussy over the lace of my panties, which were already wet. He pushed the fabric aside and licked his fingers clean, before pressing one inside her.
For an instant, everything else disappeared - the storm, the fear, the years between us. All that remained was his shadow over mine, his voice shattering every defense I had built up. I was bound by pleasure.
