chapter 5: Locked Doors, Unlocked Hearts

The sun had barely touched the skyline when Eli stirred awake, curled beneath a navy blanket on the velvet couch of Adrian Cross’s penthouse.

He blinked at the soft city light pouring through the windows—confused, disoriented, and overwhelmed by the silence around him. Everything here was expensive, untouched, and hollow. As though even time moved more carefully in Adrian’s home.

Eli rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. The air still carried the faint scent of cedarwood, leather, and something distinctly Adrian—sharp, cold, addictively masculine.

The coffee cup from last night sat untouched on the glass table.

He was about to gather his things when he heard it: the low sound of piano keys, played with aching slowness.

Eli followed the sound down the hallway.

He found Adrian in a small side room Eli hadn’t noticed before. The walls were lined with books and dark wood shelves, and in the center stood a baby grand piano. Adrian sat alone, barefoot again, hair slightly disheveled, his head bowed as he played a soft, haunting melody.

It was the first time Eli had seen him like this—unguarded. Not dressed in armor. Not cloaked in dominance.

He looked like someone trying to remember how to feel.

“You play,” Eli said quietly.

Adrian didn’t stop. “Not well. Just enough to forget.”

“What are you forgetting right now?”

Adrian lifted his eyes to Eli. “Everything. Except you.”

The answer caught Eli in his chest like a hook.

He stepped inside, crossing the room slowly.

“You always speak like that?” Eli asked, folding his arms, trying to stay grounded.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re confessing and threatening me at the same time.”

Adrian’s lips curved slightly. “Because that’s what I’m doing.”

He stood, the silence crackling between them like static. “I don’t know what this is,” Eli said, voice low. “But it’s not just work. You’re watching me. Testing me. Pulling me in. Why?”

Adrian walked toward him, every step unhurried. “Because you make me feel something I can’t control. And that terrifies me.”

Eli’s breath caught as Adrian stopped mere inches away.

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Eli whispered.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know if I’m strong enough to ignore them.”

Adrian raised a hand, slowly, deliberately, brushing his fingertips along Eli’s jaw. “Then don’t.”

Eli’s heart raced. His body stilled, his breath uneven.

“You always get what you want, don’t you?” Eli asked.

“No,” Adrian said softly. “But when I do—it’s because I make them want it too.”

That’s when it happened.

Adrian leaned in and kissed him.

There was no warning, no hesitation. Just heat, hunger, and a slow-burning pressure that made Eli forget everything outside the weight of that moment.

It wasn’t soft—it was possession.

Eli gasped softly as Adrian’s mouth claimed his, one hand sliding behind his neck, the other gripping his waist. The kiss deepened, hungry and consuming, like Adrian had been starving for this—for him.

And Eli—he didn’t pull away.

He kissed him back, just as hard. Just as lost.

Fingers tangled in silk shirt. Breathing ragged. Thoughts drowned in the heat between them.

By the time they broke apart, both were flushed, panting, staring at each other like two men standing on the edge of something they couldn’t walk back from.

Adrian pressed his forehead to Eli’s. “I told you. I’ll hurt you.”

Eli’s voice was barely a whisper. “I think I already knew that.”

Adrian cupped his face gently, his thumb brushing the corner of Eli’s mouth. “I don’t want to destroy you, Eli.”

“Then don’t,” Eli said. “Just… let me decide how much of you I can survive.”

Adrian said nothing.

But the silence between them wasn’t empty. It was a promise. A warning. A beginning.

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Later, as the city blinked quietly below and Adrian disappeared into the kitchen, Eli stood in the darkened hallway and stared at his own reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass.

He didn’t recognize the man looking back.

Not the assistant.

Not the professional.

But someone on the edge of something deeper. Darker. Addictive.

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