Chapter 287

Vivian's eyes shimmered with playful mischief, her gaze dancing over Adrian's face like sunlight on water.

Without warning, she closed the distance between them, her lips meeting his in a featherlight caress.

The contact lasted mere seconds - a tentative exploration that left her pulse racing.

She'd become surprisingly adept at reading his reactions, at knowing precisely how to provoke that delicious tension in his jaw.

Experience, it turned out, was the best teacher of all.

Where once she would have blushed and stammered, now she moved with newfound confidence.

That timid girl who'd first arrived in Crestwood seemed like a distant memory now.

Countless stolen moments had rewritten her body's responses, leaving her attuned to his every movement.

Adrian had been restraining himself since their interrupted encounter in the library.

But that whisper-soft kiss shattered his resolve completely.

His hand cradled her face as he deepened the kiss, his tongue claiming her mouth with possessive intensity.

Dizziness washed over her, a cocktail of oxygen deprivation and sheer desire.

Through half-lidded eyes, she caught the focused intensity of his expression - the slight furrow between his brows, the way his lashes fanned against his cheekbones.

He was utterly absorbed, every sense attuned to their connection.

Without conscious thought, Vivian matched his rhythm, their kiss evolving into a perfect give-and-take.

When Adrian finally broke away, his darkened eyes told her everything.

Emboldened, she took the lead, her actions drawing a ragged groan that vibrated through her entire body.

To her surprise, she found power in this role reversal - a heady rush of control she hadn't anticipated.

Fragments of movie scenes flickered through her mind, inspiring experimental techniques.

But soon her stamina began to flag, her movements growing sluggish with exhaustion.

Noticing her fatigue, Adrian lifted her effortlessly, divesting her of restrictive clothing before positioning her against the plush sofa.

There was no preamble this time - he sheathed himself in her welcoming heat with a single thrust.

Her body accepted him eagerly, as if designed for this exact connection.

The contrast of her disheveled blouse against bare skin drove him wild, each movement more urgent than the last.

Vivian's vision blurred, her consciousness narrowing to the exquisite friction between them.

The elegant updo she'd painstakingly created now hung in damp tendrils, clinging to her flushed neck and shoulders.