E L A R A

The flash burns white behind my eyes. For a second I think it’s lightning, but the sky is clear and my chest is already tight with something worse. The sound that follows isn’t thunder, it’s a gasp. Sharp. Recognizing. Adrian’s hand is already on my waist. “Move,” he says, low and hard, like a command wrapped in panic. We dive.

Between stalls, behind ribboned awnings, past drums and laughing tourists who have no idea what they just saw. My feet barely keep up. The world is too loud. Too bright. I can still feel his mouth on mine, the imprint of it burned into my skin like a brand.

We cut left, then right, down a maintenance path between the Night Market and the fire-dancer pavilion. The music gets quieter here. Lanterns swing lower. It’s not silent, but it’s hidden enough. Adrian yanks open a terrace door I didn’t even  see, half-shadowed, tucked behind drapes and a faded festival banner. We stumble in.

Stone wall. Hanging lanterns. No crowd. Just air that smells like heat and sugar and him.

I spin. “Someone saw.”

“I know.”

“That picture..”

“They won’t get another.”

A D R I A N

She’s flushed. Breathless. Furious and trembling and realer than anyone I’ve ever touched. Her lips are still parted from the kiss. Her hand clenches like she wants to hit me. Or pull me closer.

She’s shaking, just a little, like adrenaline hasn’t caught up to what her body already knows. I know that feeling. The high before the fall. Her hair sticks to her cheek. Her lips are red, wet, bitten. I want to taste every inch of her again. I want to back her up and make her forget there was ever a world outside this terrace. I want to ruin her composure and rebuild it, breath by breath, with my mouth.

“We should be tracking him,” she says, even as her back hits the wall.

“We will.” I brace one hand beside her head. The other hovers just inches from her waist, my control hanging by a thread. Her eyes flick down to my mouth again.

“This is a mistake.”

“Then tell me to stop.” She doesn’t. Instead, she tilts her chin up like a dare.

E L A R A

I don’t say anything because my mouth can’t form words around the hunger crawling up my spine. He’s too close. His body blocks the lantern light, casts him in gold and shadow. My pulse is wrecked. He steps between my legs like the air doesn’t belong to either of us. His hand grazes my hip and I jolt—not away. Toward. Like a current.

“You’re bleeding,” I say, but it comes out more like a breath than a reprimand.

“I don’t care.” His mouth crashes into mine.

This isn’t soft. This isn’t restrained. These are days of tension snapping all at once. I gasp and he swallows it. His hand fists in my hair. My fingers clutch his shirt like gravity reversed and he’s the only thing tethering me to the earth.

He pins me to the wall with his body, hard heat pressing into my stomach. I moan into his mouth. It’s involuntary, humiliating. He groans back, deep, wrecked.

“Quiet,” he murmurs, pulling back just enough to drag his thumb across my lips. “They’ll hear you.” His other hand slips under my shirt, palms my breast. I arch without meaning to. My nipple peaks into his palm. He hisses.

A D R I A N

She’s shaking. Not from fear. From need. I kiss down her neck, her collarbone. She tastes like heat and salt and impossible temptation. My tongue lingers beneath her ear, and the shiver that rolls through her hits me like a challenge. I palm her thigh, drag it up around my waist. She lets me.

Her breath hitches when I press into her. She’s not faking calm now, her hips arch, friction-starved, like her whole body’s been wound tight around this moment. I grind once just to feel her and her nails dig into my shoulder, sharp and perfect.

“You want me to stop?” She doesn’t answer. Instead, she fists the front of my shirt and kisses me like she’s afraid I’ll vanish if she doesn’t hold me here. Her mouth is on fire. Open. Unapologetic. I groan into it. My hand slips beneath her shirt, across her ribs. She arches. Her body’s begging even if her mouth won’t say it. She wants me. Now.

E L A R A

I push him gently until his back hits the terrace railing. His breath stutters like he’s surprised. I drop to my knees before he can stop me.

His eyes widened. “Elara..”

“Shh,” I whisper, my fingers already working his belt. “I want to.”

I pull him free, and he’s already hard. Thick. Flushed. Gorgeous. My mouth waters. I lick the tip slowly, teasing, then take him deeper, savoring every inch. His groan rips through the quiet like a warning.

His hand flies to my hair. Not pushing, just holding, anchoring. His hips twitch. I flatten my tongue, bob slowly, then faster.

“Fuck,” he grits. “God, your mouth…”

I hum around him and he swears again, low and broken. I drag my tongue along the underside, pressing my lips tighter. He’s panting now, barely in control. His head tips back. His other hand grips the railing hard.

“Eyes on me,” he whispers. I look up. His gaze is wild. “I’m not going to last.” I take him deeper. Swirl my tongue. His thighs tense. His whole body locks up. Then he groans, deep and ruined, as he spills down my throat.

I swallow everything. Stay there, lips wrapped tight until he twitches from overstimulation. When I pull back, he’s still gasping.

 A D R I AN

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, flushed and gorgeous and wicked. I haul her up into my arms and kiss her like I’m starving.

“My turn,” I growl.

And then I drop to my knees. Her thighs are still trembling when I lift her. She gasps, legs wrapping around my waist like instinct. I press her to the stone wall, one hand braced behind her back, the other gripping her thigh.

“Tell me if it’s too much.”

“I can take it,” she whispers. Her eyes are blazing. I drag her panties aside again. She’s soaked. I line up and push into her slow—inch by inch. Her head hits the wall with a soft thud and her mouth falls open on a soundless cry.

“Fuck,” I choke. “You feel..”

“Don’t stop.”

I thrust deeper, burying all the way. She clutches my shoulders, grinding down like she needs every inch. I can’t move at first, just feel. Her body was tight around me, pulsing.

“Move,” she begs, breath catching. “Please. Adrian..”

I do. Each thrust is careful, controlled, angled to keep us quiet. She’s trying, biting her lip, burying her face in my neck but she still gasps when I hit that spot. I slide my hand over her mouth.

“Shh. You’ll get us caught.”

She nods, whimpers against my palm. Her walls clench tight. I’m not going to last long. But I want her to fall with me.

E L A R A

He pulls out and I almost cry. My legs barely hold.

“Turn around,” he says. His voice is shredded. Raw. Like he’s seconds from coming undone.

I do. Palms on the terrace wall. Lanterns sway above us, casting flickering shadows across the stones. The warm air presses down like a second body. He lifts my skirt, fingers grazing my thighs with a reverence that borders on ruinous.

“Tell me if anyone’s close,” he murmurs. But there’s no pause. No delay. He sinks back inside me from behind, one smooth, punishing thrust that knocks the breath out of my lungs. I bite my fist to keep from screaming.

This angle—gods, this angle—hits deeper. Hotter. He fucks me slow and hard, grinding with each stroke like he’s imprinting himself inside me. One hand grips my hip with bruising force, the other slides around to stroke my clit in tight, knowing circles.

“That’s it,” he growls. “Let me feel you come. Give it to me.”

I shake, breath hitching. My knees buckle, but the wall and his body hold me up. My orgasm slams through me like a wave breaking against stone. I cry out, helpless and he covers my mouth again just in time.

He follows with a low, ragged curse, thrusting once, twice more before pulsing deep inside me, buried to the hilt.

We don’t move. Can’t. For a long, trembling second, we just breathe.

ADRIAN

She slumps forward, spent. I catch her before she folds. Press soft kisses to her spine.

“Okay?”

She nods, breathless. “Too good. Too fast.”

I help her fix her skirt, brush her hair behind her ear. Her pulse still flutters under my palm.

“We should go,” she says, but she doesn’t move.

I kiss her shoulder. “In a second.”

ELARA

We’re still tangled. Still breathing in sync. I finally start to step away—

Click.

Not a drum. Not a lantern. A camera shutter. Adrian freezes. My stomach drops.

“That wasn’t from the crowd,” he says. I whip around. Shadows. No one in sight. But someone was here. Close enough to capture everything. A breathless pause.

“Adrian… someone saw us. Again.”