C6 His eyes found her first
Zara didn’t realize the room was watching her.
Not until she felt the shift the subtle ripple of attention, the energy that moved like a wave through the bodies, through the shadows, through the charged air of ECLIPSE.
It wasn’t because she was beautiful.
Or broken.
Or alone.
It was because Adrian Knight was looking at her like she was the only woman who existed.
And everyone saw it.
He wasn’t touching her.
He hadn’t moved closer.
He didn’t need to.
His gaze did everything.
It pinned her to the velvet seat.
It burned down the side of her neck.
It told every man in the room:
Mine.
Not yours.
Don’t even try.
It wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t reasonable.
It wasn’t something she had agreed to.
But God
It felt intoxicating.
Her pulse fluttered painfully as he took the seat beside her, his presence coiling around her spine like invisible heat.
She tried to look away.
She failed.
Adrian’s jaw clenched once, like he was fighting something internal.
“You came back earlier than I expected.”
His voice was low. Controlled.
But she heard the truth inside it.
He had been waiting for her.
Zara crossed her legs, trying for composure and not the trembling she felt inside.
“I’m surprised you were expecting me at all.”
“I wasn’t expecting you.”
His eyes dropped briefly to her mouth.
“I was hoping.”
Her breath hitched.
He didn’t flirt.
He didn’t tease.
He delivered every word like a fact.
“Why?” she asked.
“You already know why.”
His fingers tapped the glass in front of him.
“You’re the first person to walk into this club in a long time who wasn’t looking for attention.”
She raised a brow. “And you like that?”
“I don’t like it.”
He leaned back, studying her slowly.
“I crave it.”
Heat shot down her spine.
Zara swallowed.
“That’s a dangerous word.”
“Everything worth wanting is dangerous.”
His gaze held hers like a hand at her throat firm but not cruel.
She forced herself to look away, pretending to take in the club again.
Red lights running along the walls.
Bodies moving like shadows.
Music heavy, dark, sensual.
That’s when she felt it
Eyes on her from across the room.
Zara subtly glanced to the side.
A woman at the corner booth, tall and stunning, with cold blue eyes and perfect blonde waves, was watching her.
Not with curiosity.
With calculation.
Zara tried to look away, but Adrian followed her gaze instantly.
He stiffened.
“Don’t mind her,” he said, jaw tightening. “She’s irrelevant.”
Zara blinked. “Who is she?”
“No one that matters.”
Which meant:
Someone who mattered once.
Someone who didn’t anymore.
Someone is watching the wrong woman.
“Adrian,” the blonde called out, rising from her booth.
Her heels clicked like knives as she approached.
Zara straightened instinctively.
The woman stopped right beside Adrian, ignoring Zara entirely.
“Didn’t expect to find you here tonight,” she said, voice dripping with sweet arrogance. “Or… with company.”
Adrian didn’t bother looking up at her.
“I’m busy, Lydia.”
“Oh, clearly,” she said, finally glancing at Zara with a thin, icy smile. “And who is this?”
Before Zara could open her mouth, Adrian answered:
“Someone who doesn’t need your introduction.”
Lydia’s expression flickered with hurt, anger, disbelief, all twisting into something ugly.
“Is she your new project?” Lydia sneered softly. “Or just another distraction?”
Zara’s stomach twisted, but she kept her face still.
Adrian stood.
The air changed.
His voice dropped to something deadly calm.
“Lydia.”
A pause.
“Walk away.”
Her lips parted. “Adrian, we were”
“We were nothing.”
His eyes sharpened.
“And now you’re interrupting.”
Zara felt the words in her bones.
Lydia did too.
She stepped back slowly, forced smile cracking.
“Enjoy your evening,” she said through clenched teeth.
When she left, the temperature of the room rose again.
Adrian sat down.
Zara studied him. “That… seemed intense.”
“She plays games,” Adrian muttered. “I don’t.”
“That wasn’t a game,” Zara said softly. “That was jealousy.”
Adrian lifted his gaze.
“I don’t care about her jealousy,” he said. “I care about your comfort.”
Her breath faltered.
“Why?” she whispered.
He didn’t hesitate.
“Because the first time I saw you… I saw a woman trying to disappear. And the second time”
He leaned in, voice lower, darker.
“—I saw a woman worth fighting every person in this room for.”
Zara felt heat slam into her chest.
“Adrian…”
“You don’t have to like what I’m saying,” he murmured. “But I won’t lie to you. I never do.”
Her heart raced so loudly she was sure he could hear it.
He noticed everything else.
The tremble in her fingers.
The rise of her chest.
The way her thighs pressed together subtly.
His eyes dipped for a fraction of a second.
“And right now,” he said, “you’re tempted.”
She swallowed hard.
“That’s not”
“It is.”
His voice brushed her skin like fingers.
“And it’s fine. I am too.”
Her lips parted.
He leaned closer not touching, not crossing that final line just enough for her to feel his breath against her cheek.
“But I won’t kiss you in this club.”
Zara froze, stunned.
Her pulse hammered.
“Why not?” she whispered.
He smirked, but there was restraint behind it.
Control.
Intensity.
“Because when I kiss you,” he said quietly, “I’m not stopping at a kiss.”
Heat flooded her body.
He didn’t touch her.
He didn’t need to.
His words stroked down her spine, igniting everything that had been numb.
Zara tore her gaze away, breath sharp.
“Do all women get this version of you?” she whispered shakily.
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“Just you.”
The DJ shifted the music deep, pulsing, sensual bass vibrating through the floor.
Bodies moved closer on the dance floor, shadows merging.
Adrian watched her reaction…
Then extended his hand.
“Dance with me.”
Zara’s breath caught.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“It’s a terrible idea.”
His eyes softened.
“Come anyway.”
She stared at his hand.
Large. Warm. Steady.
A hand that could destroy her.
Or pull her out of the ashes.
She placed her fingers in his.
Electricity shot through her.
His jaw tightened subtly the only sign he felt it too.
Adrian led her onto the dance floor.
Lights flashed red and gold.
The heat rose.
Bodies swayed around them like a storm.
He didn’t touch her waist.
Didn’t pull her against him.
He simply stood close… close enough that she could feel every exhale, every shift of muscle beneath his shirt.
Their bodies moved in sync, drawn together by something neither understood.
Zara’s heartbeat turned into the rhythm.
Adrian leaned in, lips brushing her ear without touching.
“Do you feel it?” he murmured.
“What?” she breathed.
“The pull.”
Her chest tightened.
“Yes.”
He lifted her chin lightly with one finger barely a touch, but enough to make her knees weaken.
“Good,” he said, eyes dark. “I don’t want to be the only one.”
Her breath broke.
She had never wanted someone she shouldn’t want this intensely.
She had never been looked at like this
like a man was memorizing her skin before he touched it.
The music dropped, deep and pounding.
Zara pressed closer without meaning to.
Adrian inhaled sharply.
“Careful,” he murmured. “I told you I’m at my limit with you.”
Her lips parted.
She didn’t pull away.
Something shifted inside him something he barely contained.
His hand lifted
slowly
deliberately
and hovered near her hip.
He didn’t touch.
Just hovered.
His restraint was more intimate than any touch would have been.
Zara’s voice was barely audible.
“Why won’t you touch me?”
Adrian leaned his forehead against hers.
“Because the second I do,” he whispered, “you won’t forget it… and I won’t be able to stop.”
Her breath trembled.
“And you think I’m fragile?” she asked.
“No.”
He tilted his head, eyes locked on hers.
“I think you’re dangerous. And I don’t want to break first.”
The words were a confession.
A surrender.
A warning.
Zara’s knees almost gave out.
He steadied her but only with the brush of his breath, not his hands.
The music swelled.
The room spun.
Heat pulsed.
Adrian’s voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
“Tell me to stop,” he said.
“Or I will ruin every rule you’ve ever lived by.”
Zara didn’t speak.
She couldn’t.
Because she didn’t want him to stop.
Not tonight.
Not now.
Not ever.
And Adrian saw the answer in her silence.
His jaw clenched.
He stepped back but barely.
His eyes burned.
“This isn’t the place,” he said hoarsely. “Not yet.”
Zara’s entire body ached.
Not from rejection.
From need.
She took a shaking breath.
“Then take me somewhere that is.”
The words slipped out before she could catch them.
Adrian froze.
For the first time, he looked undone.
“Zara…”
“Please.”
His control cracked
just a fracture
But enough to show the hunger beneath.
He took her hand.
Firm.
Decisive.
“Let’s go.”
And the world tilted as he led her out of ECLIPSE—
Toward the night that would change everything.
