Chapter 1: The Proposal
The city’s neon pulse bled through the bedroom windows, painting silent streaks across the silence between them. Marcus watched Elena’s fingers, which had been slowly undoing the buttons of her blouse, go perfectly still. “I want to watch you,” he said, his voice rough, the words hanging in the sandalwood-scented air. A slow, dangerous heat bloomed in her green eyes, warring with the shock he saw there. Her knuckle brushed the next button, a silent question, and the world outside faded to a distant hum.
She grimaced slightly. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, her voice a fragile thing in the thick air. The blouse hung open, revealing the lace edge of her bra, a territory he knew as well as his own breath. He saw the calculation in her eyes, the thrill wrestling the fear, and he waited, his own pulse a steady, patient drum.