CHAPTER 43: DROWN ME...

Chapter 43: Drown Me

For a long second, nothing came from Theo’s lips, and his mouth stayed still.

Danielle’s lips had barely brushed his, but it felt like the world stopped moving just for the two of them.

Even the noise from the city outside faded and turned into dust...

Theo’s hand was still holding his glass. He placed it carefully on the table, moving slowly. When he finally looked at her, his eyes had changed. The calm and control he always carried were gone.

"Danielle," he called her quietly, almost warning her.

But Danielle didn’t step back. Her eyes glowed from the city lights outside, her cheeks flushed from the whiskey. "You always tell me what to do," she whispered. "Maybe it’s your turn to listen."

Theo’s jaw tightened. He wanted to walk away, to pull her out of the mess she was creating, but he couldn’t. Something in her voice, something in her eyes...he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

"I can’t hold back what’s inside me any longer," he confessed, clamping his hand around her wrist and pulling her toward him.

Her heart skipped a beat at the sudden closeness. Theo’s eyes darkened, but there was no anger this time, only a kind of hunger that had nothing to do with control.

He leaned closer, his breath touched against her ear as he spoke. "I’d let my heart break and rain down on your skin."

Danielle’s fingers trembled slightly. The words melted inside her like fire and water all at once. "God, Theo," she muttered in a rough voice. The cheap alcohol was burning out her common sense as Danielle surrendered into the pull. "Then drown me..."

Theo closed his eyes, as if the words forced a deep shock inside him. His grip on her wrist loosened, then shifted until his fingers touched her hand instead.

"Do you even know what you’re asking for?" he whimpered and then inhaled the scent of her hair.

"I know," Danielle replied carefully. "And I don’t care."

Theo hesitated for only a second before he pulled her close, he rested his forehead gently against hers. The energy between them felt electric. Danielle’s heartbeat raced so fast she could hear it echoing in her ears.

"You drive me insane," Theo stated in a low voice. "You’re chaos in human form."

"Then maybe you should stop trying to control it," she replied.

He laughed quietly under his breath, but it wasn’t out of amusement. It was disbelief and maybe exhaustion...or just something weirdly close to surrender. His thumb brushed along her jawline, and Danielle shivered at the touch.

"The things you make me feel, Danielle..." he murmured like he was doing it almost to himself. "They don’t belong to someone like me."

She met his gaze and her voice started trembling but stayed honest. "Then stop pretending you don’t feel them."

Theo looked at her one more time, and in that moment, Danielle looked both fragile and fearless. He felt something break inside him...the last wall he had been holding up.

His hand slid to the back of her neck, his fingers tangled slightly in her hair. For the first time, Theo didn’t think about the danger, the rules, or the past.

He just bent closer until their foreheads touched again.

Danielle’s breath was held hostage in her throat. "Theo..."

"Don’t," he asked and slowed down his breathing. "Don’t say my name like that. It makes it harder to stop."

"Then don’t stop..."

Danielle wanted him...she wanted to touch him and connect with him...maybe it was in her human nature-to give in to her predator...

Theo was everything she wanted but couldn’t have...he was like a sugar in her coffee...so visibly sweet, but invisible to her tongue.

Theo’s body felt like it got covered in frost...the pulse was like an old hammer, hitting and then ringing in his ears.

He wanted to let go...to drown in what she offered, but there was a ghost in the back of his mind, reminding him why he shouldn’t.

To Theo, Danielle was just work...work he failed more than twice, and that failure was what kept him going, fixing his mistakes.

There was no time to even realise how beautiful Danielle was...her strict jaw, and cute-round nose...the lips covered in crimson like a sun in the dawn.

But Danielle was like a pearl, completely locked in that shell, waiting for someone to rescue her...

And that wasn’t Theo...it couldn’t be. If Danielle knew why Theo even accepted this job, if she knew from which family he came from...

The shell would break the pearl inside it, so Theo needed to stop.

His eyes moved to the window. A reflection caught his attention.

A red light was blinking once and then twice.

Theo’s muscles felt the stinginess of a needle. That was hisbsign to stop. It wasn’t part of the city view, it was too close and too precise.

Danielle noticed the change in his expression. "What is it?"

Theo moved instantly, his arm wrapped around her as he turned them away from the glass. "Get down," he hissed.

"Why...?"

Nothing happened when they fell to the ground. Maybe he was getting too paranoid, especially when he saw black peonies near Bae’s grave.

"Theo?"

"Fuck..." he let out a long shaky laugh, and covered his face with his arm.

"Is everything okay?"

No...it wasn’t...Theo wanted to hug Danielle and explain to her why he was working for Frank, and what even pushed him to this side...the dark side.

"I’m a dangerous man, Danielle. You shouldn’t kiss me anymore."

"What?" Danielle blinked three times. "I don’t care, Theo."

"You should...you should care...because the minute I let myself inside you, you won’t stop me from destroying you."

"Arr you challenging me, my dear bodyguard?" Danielle rolled onto her belly, exposing her back. "It itches right there in the middle, could you scratch it for me?"

Theo got up, and sat on her legs without talking back, "your back is so slender..." lowering his head, Theo unzipped it, but instead of doing what Danielle had asked...

Theo’s lips connected with her back.

"Only this once, Danielle..."