Chapter 31 – Honeymoon Conundrum

In his embrace, my thoughts were in utter disarray. The soft press of his lips against mine lingered, the kiss stretching out into a suspended moment that felt both exhilarating and bewildering.

Was it lasting longer than it was intended to? Perhaps he, too, was caught up in the intensity of the moment, or at least that's what I believed—until the photographer's voice sliced through the atmosphere.

"All done," the photographer's announcement severed the spell, and Lucian swiftly pulled back from me. The abruptness of his movement was almost startling, as if the kiss had been a figment of my imagination, dissipating into thin air the instant reality pushed back in.

As my gaze remained fixed upon him, there was an absence of any visible emotional or physical impact from the kiss. No tell-tale sign that the shared moment had stirred anything within him.

A sigh slipped inward, a mix of resignation and a pang of disappointment. "It was all an act after all," I whispered under my breath,