CHAPTER 189: CHAPTER 189: THE KISS THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED

Serena’s POV~

I glared at him, my patience hanging by a single fragile thread. "What will you take? Leave me alone, Kiel," I snapped, each word sharp enough to cut.

He didn’t even flinch. Of course he didn’t. He just tilted his head slightly, that infuriatingly smug smile tugging at his lips. "Maybe a kiss," he said, voice lazy, teasing like this was all a joke to him.

A kiss.

Really?

My steps halted. My breath caught, just for a second, before I turned to face him. His eyes widened, just a little, as if realizing he might have gone too far. But it was too late. Something inside me shifted...a spark snapping against my chest, hot and dangerous.

My lips curled into a smirk. "A kiss, huh?" I said softly, though there was nothing soft in the way I looked at him.

The way his expression faltered—that brief flicker of surprise sent a strange thrill through me. He wasn’t expecting me to react. He never does.

So I showed him exactly what happens when he underestimates me.

I stepped closer, the air between us thick with tension. My heartbeat was too loud and fast. I could feel the heat radiating off his bare skin ...damn him for walking around like that, all muscles and sun-warmed skin, as if he didn’t know what that did to me.

Before my mind could talk me out of it, my body moved on its own.

I rose on my toes, sliding my arms around his neck. His breath hitched. I could feel the strength in his body go rigid under my touch...startled, unprepared.

Good. Because this reaction of his really send a thrill inside me. He is not the only one who knows how to play with fire.

And then I pulled him down to me. And kissed him.

Our lips collide, not in a gentle way. It was fierce and unrestrained. Like all the frustration, anger, and heat I’d been holding in finally exploded at once.

He tasted warm... a little salty, a little wild. His breath mingled with mine, shallow and uneven. I could feel his heartbeat against my chest, hard and chaotic, like my own.

For a moment, he didn’t move.

Then suddenly, his hands were on me; his strong arms circled my waist in a hard grip, gripping my waist like he needed to hold on to something real. When he pulled me closer, I felt the ground slip away as he lifted me effortlessly. My legs wrapped around him instinctively, like I’d been waiting for this forever.

The kiss deepened... wild and reckless. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer, desperate to feel more. Every thought I’d ever had scattered like sand in the wind. There was only him ... his lips, his touch, the way his body trembled against mine as if fighting the same impossible hunger.

It was madness.

It was fire.

And I was burning.

When I finally tore my lips away, both of us were gasping, eyes locked, breaths ragged. His lips were swollen ...so were mine. His hands were still on me, holding me like he didn’t trust himself to let go.

I should have pushed him away.

I should have slapped him.

But I didn’t.

Because in that dizzy, breathless silence, I realized something terrifying... my hands were still tangled in his hair, and my body was trembling, not from anger, but from wanting.

I wanted him.

And that scared the hell out of me.

I came here to calm myself down, to think. But he had to show up... half-naked, smug, and so infuriatingly beautiful it made my blood boil. And now... now my heart wouldn’t stop racing, my lips still tingled, and the taste of him refused to leave.

I told myself it was a mistake.

That it meant nothing.

That I was just proving a point.

And to prove myself right, that I was only giving him his own taste.

I shoved him away before I could think. My hands were trembling... half from anger, half from the echo of the kiss... but I forced myself to push until there was distance between us. I glared at him like I meant it, my teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached.

"Get out," I spat, voice low and rough. "Now you have to give your pretty kiss. I hope it is enough to calm you down."

I hated how small I felt even as I barked. I hated that his smug face didn’t break but only darkened with something like amusement.

He had the nerve to look pleased. Of course he did. Of course he’d enjoy this. The bastard probably knew exactly how he’d wound me up...how easily he could make me lose my head.

My mind was a furious storm. How dare he? How dare he barge in on me like this, in the early morning, stealing my sleep and my peace and then standing there like he owned the place.

My condition... everything I’d been trying to control was because of him, because of his careless presence. He’d crossed a line a hundred times, but this... this felt like the worst kind of invasion.

I could feel heat under my skin still, a burning that wouldn’t go away. My palms were damp where they’d touched him.

It drove me crazier to think he’d smelled it, noticed it, and taken pleasure in how aroused I’d become.

I wanted to claw him to tear that smug look off his face. I wanted to disappear from my own body. How could I have let myself climb into his arms? How could I have been that weak?

I scowled so hard my face hurt. "Is this what you wanted?" I snapped, words sharp as knives. "Is this... is it done? Are you satisfied?" My voice shook. I was trying to make him feel the shame I felt, but shame was mine alone; he only looked entertained.

"If you ever come in front of me like this again," I warned, every syllable a threat, "I swear you won’t be alive to see the next day."