chapter 3

Chapter 3: Playing with Fire

Lena knew she was in trouble the moment she stepped into Asher’s penthouse.

It wasn’t just the way the city lights spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting shadows over the dark leather furniture. It wasn’t just the scent of him—clean, masculine, laced with danger.

It was the way he watched her.

Like he owned her.

Like he was daring her to run, just so he could catch her.

But she wasn’t running.

Not tonight.

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“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” Lena murmured, hugging her arms around herself as Asher closed the door behind them.

He smirked, slow and lethal. “And yet, you came.”

She hated how right he was.

After the incident at the café, Asher had insisted on driving her home, but the moment they got into his car, she knew that wasn’t where they were going.

And she hadn’t argued.

She should have. She should have demanded answers, demanded to know what was happening, why he was so protective, why his touch lingered just a second too long every time he reached for her.

Instead, she let him bring her here. To his world.

And now, she was trapped in it.

Asher leaned against the counter, rolling up the sleeves of his black shirt, revealing forearms dusted with inked lines and veins that told stories she would never understand. His dark eyes roamed over her, slow, heated, like he was deciding what to do with her.

Lena swallowed hard. “Asher…”

He took a step closer. “Say it again.”

Her breath hitched. “What?”

“My name.”

She shook her head, but he was already there, standing in front of her, so close she could feel the heat radiating off his body.

“You like playing with fire, don’t you, princess?” he murmured, tilting her chin up with his fingers.

Lena’s pulse roared in her ears. She should pull away. She should tell him this was wrong.

But all she could focus on was the way his touch burned, the way his presence made the world fade away.

“Asher,” she whispered.

Something dark flickered in his gaze. His hand slid to the small of her back, tugging her closer, pressing her against the hard planes of his body.

“You have no idea what you do to me,” he muttered, his breath warm against her skin.

Lena gasped as his fingers traced slow, teasing circles against her spine. Her hands instinctively rested against his chest, feeling the steady, controlled rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her palms.

“I should stay away from you,” she managed to say, her voice barely a whisper.

He smirked, his lips brushing against her temple, sending a shiver down her spine. “But you won’t.”

She swallowed hard, fingers curling into his shirt. “And if I do?”

Asher let out a low chuckle, his lips grazing dangerously close to her ear. “Then I’ll just have to come find you.”

It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise.

And God help her, she wanted him to keep it.

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To be continued…

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