Elena's POV

The moment his fingers tipped my chin upward, my breath locked in my chest.

His room felt suddenly smaller, walls closing in with the weight of the leather, the polished metal, the quiet threat humming in the air.

I'd known Noah Marlowe was dangerous.

But I never expected his danger to look like this dark, deliberate, intimate. He looked like a Pandora's box. I might pay the price for my curiosity.

"I—I'm sorry," I managed, voice trembling. "I'm just curious. Caleb warned me not to open it. But the door wasn't locked and I thought it was— I didn't know—"

His thumb brushed along my jaw, not rough...