His Forbidden Obsession: Tempting The Devil I Can't Have

6

CHAPTER SIX

THE LINE THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST

ISABELLA

“You’re in the wrong wing.”

His voice wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. It carried anyway, steady and controlled, like everything about him. My brain finally rebooted, just enough to remember how humiliation worked. “I…” I swallowed. “I didn’t know.” Brilliant. Absolutely groundbreaking response, Isabella.

Alexander moved to pick up another towel from where it was, forgetting the one he used to dry his hair and adjusted it around his waist, not rushed, not flustered. Just… deliberate. Like he had all the time in the world and I was the one out of place. Which, to be fair, I was.

“This part of the house is private,” he continued, stepping past me toward the dresser. “Camille should have mentioned that.”

“She probably did,” I muttered. “I just… didn’t think I’d end up here.” His reflection caught mine in the mirror. That same sharp, assessing look. Like he was trying to figure something out and I was the problem he hadn’t solved yet.

“You seem to have a habit of wandering into places you shouldn’t be.” My chest tightened.

“That sounds like an accusation.”

“It’s an observation.” Silence stretched again, thick and uncomfortable and charged with something I didn’t want to name. I should leave. I didn’t move. He noticed. Of course he noticed. “Isabella.” The way he said my name this time was different. Quieter. Firmer. A warning. “You should go.”

I nodded quickly, turning toward the door before my body could betray me again. But my hand paused on the handle. Because something in me, reckless, curious, completely unhinged, needed to know.

“Did you mean it?” I didn’t turn around.

“Mean what?”

“That night,” I said, my voice barely steady. “When you said it would be complicated.” A pause. Then…

“Yes.” Simple. Direct. Final. That should have been enough. It wasn’t.

“Is that why you left?” I asked. This time I did turn. He was watching me again. Not amused. Not soft. Something heavier.

“I left because I had work,” he said.

“That’s not what I asked.” His jaw tightened slightly. Not enough for anyone else to notice. Enough for me.

“You’re looking for answers you won’t like,” he said.

“Try me.” Another step closer. Not touching. Never touching. Just close enough that I could feel it.

“This doesn’t end well for you,” he said quietly. Not for us. For you. That landed harder than I expected.

“And for you?” I asked. A flicker of something passed through his eyes. Gone just as quickly.

“I don’t lose control,” he said. There it was. The lie. Or maybe not a lie. Maybe just something he believed. My heart was beating too fast. My thoughts are louder than they should be.

“Then why do I feel like you already have?” I don’t know what possessed me to say that. I really don’t. Some part of my brain clearly clocked out and left chaos in charge. For the first time since I met him…

He didn’t respond immediately. And that silence? That was my answer. It was everything I needed to know and I was somehow content with that.

I opened the door before I could say anything worse. “Goodnight, Mr. Moreau.” There was a pause. Then, behind me, he said, “Alexander.” I froze.

“If you’re going to keep finding your way into my space,” he added calmly, “you should at least use my name.” My grip tightened on the door handle. This man was going to ruin my life. I could feel it. And the worst part? I didn’t think I wanted to stop him.

I stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind me a little too quickly, like it might burn me if I stayed any longer. My lungs finally remembered their job. Air rushed in, sharp and uneven, like I’d been underwater and had only just surfaced. What the hell was that?

I leaned back against the wall, pressing my palms flat against the cool wood as if it could steady something inside me that had gone completely off balance. Alexander. Not Mr. Moreau anymore. That felt… dangerous. It shouldn’t matter. It was just a name. Just a small shift. But it didn’t feel small. It felt like a line had been moved, quietly, deliberately, and I had stepped over it without even noticing. Or worse…I had noticed. And I’d stepped anyway.

I pushed myself off the wall and started walking, faster than necessary, like distance might fix whatever had just happened in that room. It didn’t. Because his voice followed me.

If you’re going to keep finding your way into my space…

Like this was inevitable. Like this was already a pattern. My chest tightened. No. It wasn’t. This was a mistake. One wrong turn. One moment of curiosity that had gotten out of hand. That was all. Except it didn’t feel like all.

By the time I reached my room, my pulse still hadn’t settled. I shut the door behind me, twisting the lock with more force than necessary, like that would somehow keep everything else out. Him out. The thought almost made me laugh. As if a door could do that.

I crossed to the bed and sat down, staring at nothing, my mind replaying every second on a loop I couldn’t shut off. The way he looked at me. The way he didn’t move away. The way he said my name. Alexander. I dropped back onto the mattress with a groan, dragging a pillow over my face.

“This is insane,” I muttered into the fabric. It was. I had a boyfriend. A life. A version of myself that made sense. And somehow, in less than a few days, all of that felt… distant. Faded at the edges. Replaced by something sharper. Louder. More dangerous.

I turned onto my side, staring at my phone on the nightstand. No new messages. Good. I didn’t need one. I already knew. This wasn’t going away. Whatever this was…It had already started. And the worst part? I hadn’t even tried to stop it.