Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Finally he leans back in the chair and rubs a hand over his face. “I’m sorry about what I said. After… downstairs. It came out wrong. I wasn’t trying to make it sound like a trade. I wasn’t using you to get something. I just… lost my head for a minute. You deserve better than that.”
I swallow hard. “It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” he says quietly. “I saw your face. I hurt you. And that’s the last thing I wanted to do.”
The sincerity in his voice makes my chest tighten. I want to believe him. Part of me does. But believing him is dangerous.
I shake my head. “We can’t explore anything sexual between us, Poe. It’s too complicated. Too risky. For both of us. Especially with Enley still out there. We need to stay focused.”
He watches me for a long beat, eyes dark and searching. The silence stretches, charged and heavy. Then he stands slowly and crosses the small space between us until we are only inches apart. My back presses against the doorframe. His gaze drops to my mouth, then back up to my eyes.
The tension heats instantly, crackling like it did last night. My breath catches. His hand lifts, hovering near my cheek like he is fighting the urge to touch me.
Before I can stop myself, I close the distance and kiss him.
It is softer than the frantic kiss in the car, but no less desperate. His mouth moves against mine, warm and sure, one hand sliding to the back of my neck while the other rests lightly at my waist. I taste the faint bitterness of coffee on his tongue and something that is just him. My fingers curl into his shirt, pulling him closer even as my brain screams that this is a terrible idea.
He kisses me back like he’s been thinking about it all night too, deep and slow, like he’s trying to memorize the way I feel. For a few perfect seconds the world narrows to just this, his body warm against mine, his breath mingling with my own, the quiet sounds we make when the kiss deepens.
Then he stops.
Poe pulls back just enough to rest his forehead against mine, breathing hard. His hand stays on my neck, thumb brushing my jaw in a gentle circle.
“I stopped because I don’t want you thinking I’m only kissing you to bargain for things,” he says, voice low and rough. “I’m not. I kissed you because I wanted to. Because I’ve been thinking about kissing you since the moment you walked down those stairs in that black dress. Because I care about you, Orchid. More than I probably should.”
The words make my heart stutter. I want to believe him. God, I want to. But the memory of his earlier comment still stings, and the bigger truth sits heavy in my chest.
I pull back a little, needing space before I do something reckless like kiss him again. My voice comes out quieter than I intend. “I was born in South Korea. I moved to America when I was five with my grandmother. My parents both died when I was little. Car accident. My grandmother wanted a better life for me, so she brought me here. She worked two jobs and still made sure I had books and school and… everything she never had.”
I stop there. I want to tell him more. About the tiny apartment we shared, about the way my grandmother used to sing old folk songs when she thought I was asleep, about how lonely it felt after she passed and how I learned early that the only person I could really count on was myself. But I keep quiet. The rest is too dangerous to share.
Poe listens without interrupting, his thumb still tracing slow circles on my jaw. His eyes are soft in a way that makes my walls feel paper-thin.
I step back fully this time, putting real distance between us. My heart’s racing again, but for an entirely different reason now.
I can’t tell him the rest.
I can’t tell him I’m undercover.
I can’t tell him that everything I’m doing here, every order I follow, every mask I wear, is part of a long game that has nothing to do with loyalty to Serafina and everything to do with bringing her down from the inside.
And I definitely can’t tell him that the closer I get to him, the harder it’s becoming to remember whose side I’m really on.
NINETEEN
POE
The kiss in the office still burns on my lips when I finally pull back and look at her. Orchid’s eyes are dark, her breathing uneven, and for a second I almost say screw it and kiss her again. But I can see the war happening behind her gaze, the same one that’s been raging in my own chest all night.