C7 One Dance, Too much chemistry
Adrian didn’t let go of her hand.
Not in the hallway.
Not in the elevator.
Not when they stepped into the quiet luxury corridor leading to the private lounges of ECLIPSE.
His grip was firm but not forceful
the kind that told her he wasn’t dragging her…
He was holding himself together.
Barely.
He led her into a dim private room lit with golden downlights and velvet shadows.
A single leather sofa.
A glass table.
A polished bar stocked with rare bottles that probably cost more than her old salary.
He closed the door gently behind them.
Not slamming.
Not locking.
Just… shutting out the world.
Zara stood near the center of the room, breath trembling.
Adrian stayed by the door for three full seconds
breathing like he had run a marathon.
He wasn’t calm anymore.
Not composed.
Not controlled.
He was a man fighting himself.
Finally, he spoke.
“We shouldn’t be here.”
Her pulse jumped.
“You brought me here,” Zara whispered.
“Yes,” he said, stepping closer, “and I’m already regretting it.”
“Why?”
“Because,” he said, voice low and tight, “I don’t trust myself around you.”
Heat shot through her body.
He moved closer.
One step.
Then another.
Each one deliberate, heavy, like a man approaching something sacred and forbidden at the same time.
“Adrian…” she whispered.
“Tell me to leave,” he murmured.
“I won’t.”
He inhaled sharply.
“Tell me you don’t want this.”
She swallowed.
She couldn’t lie.
“I do.”
His jaw clenched so hard she heard his breath hitch.
He was in front of her now.
Not touching.
Just close enough for their breaths to mingle.
Their foreheads nearly touch.
Her heartbeat was pounding so loudly she was sure he could hear it.
“You’re still hurting,” he said softly.
“Yes.”
“And I shouldn’t be the man you turn to.”
“You already are.”
He let out a low, ragged exhale.
“Zara,” he warned. “If I kiss you”
She closed the little distance between them until her chest brushed his.
He froze.
“ I won’t stop,” he finished, voice shredded.
Her lips trembled.
“Then don’t stop.”
His eyes darkened so violently that her breath caught.
“God help me,” he whispered, “I want to.”
He reached up
slowly
like she was breakable glass.
His fingers hovered near her cheek.
Then…
He touched her.
Barely.
A whisper of skin on skin.
Zara shivered.
The contact was nothing
and everything.
His thumb brushed her cheekbone, tracing gently.
She leaned into his touch without meaning to.
Adrian’s lips parted like the sight of her undone was undoing him.
Her voice shook.
“Why do you look at me like that?”
He swallowed hard.
“Because the moment I saw you,” he said, “I stopped seeing anyone else.”
Her lungs trembled.
“That’s… too much,” she whispered.
“It’s the truth.”
He moved closer chest to chest, breath to breath.
His hand cradled her jaw now, gentle but possessive.
“If I kiss you right now,” he murmured against her mouth, “I’ll take you apart.”
Her knees weakened.
His other hand slid to her waist
not pulling, not claiming
just anchoring her presence against his restraint.
She whispered, “Then kiss me.”
His breath hitched.
He tilted her chin up
lips inches from hers
heat rolling off him like a wave.
Their noses brushed.
Zara inhaled sharply.
He exhaled against her skin.
“Not like this,” Adrian whispered, voice breaking with self-control so sharp it hurt.
Her eyes flew open.
“What?”
He stepped back
one step
as if it physically tore him to do it.
“Not when you’re hurting,” he said, breathing hard. “Not when you’re this fragile.”
“I’m not fragile.”
“You are,” he said hoarsely. “And that’s exactly why I want you too much.”
Her heart twisted.
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“You think I don’t feel this?” he said, voice rough. “You think dragging myself away from you is easy?”
Zara stepped forward instinctively.
He held up a hand to stop her.
“Please,” he breathed.
“I need space.”
She froze, breath trembling.
Adrian paced once just once then faced her again.
“There’s a fine line between wanting you and hurting you,” he said. “And I refuse to cross it recklessly.”
She blinked, eyes stinging.
“You’re not hurting me.”
“Yes,” he said softly. “I would. Because you’re drowning and I’m standing here pretending I’m a lifeline instead of another kind of danger.”
Silence thickened.
Heavy.
Electric.
Breaking her open from the inside.
“So what do you want from me?” she whispered.
He looked tortured for a moment.
Then he finally said the truth:
“Time.”
“Time… for what?”
“For you to see me when you’re not bleeding,” he said. “For you to want me without needing me.”
Her throat tightened.
“I didn’t come here looking for a savior.”
“And I’m not trying to be one.”
His gaze softened.
“I just don’t want to be your rebound.”
The word hit her like wind knocking out her breath.
Rebound.
That’s all she was capable of now.
That’s all she had left to give.
“You don’t get to choose what role you play for me,” she said quietly.
“No,” he agreed. “But I get to choose who I become after.”
Their eyes locked.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
Intimate in a way that terrified her.
She whispered, “I want you.”
“And I want you,” he said, stepping forward again just close enough to feel” but I won’t take you in a moment of collapse.”
Her lip trembled. “You think kissing me is taking advantage?”
His voice was wrecked.
“No.
I think kissing you would be the beginning of something I can’t undo.”
Her breath fractured.
He leaned in
Not to kiss her.
But to rest his forehead against hers.
They stood like that for a long, shaking moment.
His breath on her lips.
Her fingers curled into his shirt.
Their bodies were perfectly aligned and painfully untouched.
His whisper brushed her skin:
“Let me want you the right way.”
She swallowed.
“And what’s the wrong way?”
“This,” he said, breaking the contact and stepping back, “tonight.”
Zara’s entire body ached, shaky and alive.
He exhaled, collecting himself.
“I’m taking you home,” he said gently. “Not to my place. Not to my bed. Just home.”
Her voice trembled. “And tomorrow?”
His eyes darkened.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “depends on which version of you wakes up the woman running from heartbreak… or the woman who walked into my arms tonight.”
She shivered.
He reached for her hand slow, deliberate, and interlaced their fingers.
Not pulling.
Just holding.
“Come,” he whispered.
And she followed him out of the room
out of ECLIPSE
into a night that vibrated with desire, they were both one breath away from surrendering to.
They didn’t kiss.
But it felt like they had.
And it felt like the next time they got this close…
Neither of them would stop.
