Page 77 of Sinful Pleasure

I stand there, heart in my throat, wondering if this is a mistake. My mind screams at me to turn around, to leave before it’s too late, but before I can even make up my mind, the door swings open.

And there he is.

Dark, brooding, the very picture of danger.

Every time I see him, my stomach flutters—whether I want to admit it or not. There’s something magnetic about him, like I’m drawn to the chaos he carries inside.

His eyes narrow when he sees me, his brows furrow in confusion, but there’s a flicker of something else in his gaze. That familiar raw energy.

“What are you doing here?”

His voice is rough and sharp. He doesn’t even hide his disbelief as he looks me up and down like I’ve done something insane by simply showing up.

But still, he steps back, making way for me to enter. His hand rests on the door frame, and I feel the weight of his stare on me as the door clicks shut behind me.

“Did something happen?”

His deep voice is softer than I expected, almost… worried? It’s strange, and I find myself caught off guard by it.I turn to face him, shaking my head.

“No, I just couldn’t sleep.”

“And you decided to come here?”

I can’t bring myself to explain any further, so all I do is nod.

It’s late—way too late—and I’m tired of the pretending.

I’m tired of acting like the thoughts of this man aren’t haunting my mind, more than I ever want to admit. I’m tired of convincing myself that what happened between us was a mistake when I’m aching for it to happen again.I don’t care that it’s wrong and I don’t care that it’s a boundary I shouldn’t cross.

At this moment, I want him twice as much because I know I shouldn’t.Maddox walks past me, dismissing me almost entirely as he sits down behind his desk. His gaze doesn’t linger on me, and for a second, I wonder if this is a test.

“Go to your room, Allyn.” His words are sharp, and the coldness in them stings. “It’s late, and I have work to do.”

“At three in the morning?”

“Yes,” he replies curtly, flipping through a folder, his eyes scanning the papers with a tired, absent gaze.

He looks like someone who hasn’t slept in days—his hair a mess, eyes swollen and dark, as if he’s been consumed by something other than work.And for some reason, that stirs something inside of me, something I can’t ignore. Suddenly, a sense of boldness overtakes me.

I walk around his desk, moving behind him, my hands finding their way to his shoulders.His body tenses beneath my touch, his muscles stiffening, but he doesn’t push me away.

It’s as if he’s too tired of pretending he doesn’t want this too. I feel the way his fingers tighten around the pencil in his hand, but still, he doesn’t stop me.

He breathes out— a heavy, almost painful exhale.

“What are you doing, Allyn?”

“You look tired.”

My fingers pressed into his shoulders, slowly massaging them. He remained silent for a moment, only letting out soft, barely audible groans as I continued, his body instinctively leaning into my touch.

Without thinking, I spun his chair so that we were face to face, his sharp gaze meeting mine. His expression was unreadable, but I saw the flicker of something darker in his eyes. I smiled innocently, though my heart raced with a forbidden excitement.

“Will you let me help you?”

It was pure madness. It was insane to even be here, with my hands on him, but he was just as tangled in this mess as I was. And I could see that now, in the way he didn’t push me away.

His reaction was immediate—a low groan, filled with something that was both frustrated and needy.I kissed him— urgently, hungrily, letting everything that had been building between us spill out in that kiss.

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