Chapter 1 : Risky dare

"You may kiss the bride"

With the echoing sound of heavy claps, Stanley Smith gets hitched to the son of her brother's business partner. 

The entire venue has been decorated for the most awaited wedding. Almost every person wears a smile on their face whether out of joy for the newly married couple or not. 

Among all the happy faces, the twenty-six years old woman in a red sleeveless shirt, paired with black pencil skirt is standing like a statue, her eyes darting on the newly married couple. It's not like she is unhappy with the marriage. She shares no relationship with any of the bride or groom. 

Letting out a deep sigh, she claps along with others.

Emily Benson is a young woman with attractive features any woman wishes for. Still, there's not a single streak of pride in her actions. She is a social worker and owns the most reputable agency in Austin. However, despite being appreciated by most people, she's struggling to carry out the maintenance of her projects.

People tend to appreciate social projects but only with their mouths, not hands. She's running out of funds lately. Two of her biggest projects are stuck due to the lack of funds. Even after attending a bunch of seminars and setting her goals successfully, she's only being consoled. No one wants to fund a project which can't bring them profit. 

Mr David Smith is the only influential businessman in Austin who showed interest in her project and promised to work on it. Emily is here to attend his sister's wedding with all the strangers surrounding her. 

She has developed social anxiety in the past few years which keeps her in the corner on any occasion. 

It's the same today. 

"Miss Benson", Mrs Olivia Smith appears next to her with her fellows. 

She has been working with her husband, giving equal efforts to his business and projects. Emily must need to communicate with her. 

"Hello, Mrs Smith", she pulls on a casual smile.

"I think you're getting bored. Mind joining us at the party?"

"I'm sorry. Mrs Smith. Parties aren't my cup of tea", out of the notion, she hesitates to turn down Mrs Smith.

"You may be talking about the random parties, Miss Benson. This is definitely not what you're assuming. We won't dance to loud music", she cracks up. 

Emily fights with her inner conflicts without noticing the evil smirk on Olivia's face. She has been envious of Emily ever since she got along with David Smith. 

The rich yet insecure woman in her late twenties hasn't been able to take her husband praising Emily's potential professionally. Whilst David has been highly professional and only interested in Emily's work at such a young age, Olivia has taken it to a different level.

"You better join us, Miss Benson", Olivia grins. "After all, we are gonna work together soon. It's better to develop the relationship instead of making it bitter by turning such a warm invitation down"

Emily understands the hidden menace behind Olivia's sweet words and nods. She needs this collaboration anyhow.

"Okay, I'm waiting for you at our table", Olivia points at the table filled with other women, laughing and gossiping aloud.

Such an environment is highly unpleasant to Emily. However, she makes up her mind for the sake of those women she's working for. 

As she follows Olivia to the table, the bright lights go off and the entire venue turns into a dark party-themed spot. Music plays on. The bride and groom change into party attire with the change in the entire environment. 

                             Emily's POV

It's been years since I witnessed such an environment. I can't handle music, noise, and people around me. It's suffocating on so many levels. 

"Dare or dare", Mrs Peyton beams— one of Olivia's fellows. "That's what we play"

"Miss Benson is new to this. So, we should elaborate more", Olivia taps on my back before I anxiously drift away. 

"Sure. We don't have the 'truth and dare' thing. Truth is the option for kids, not for grown-up women like us"

They laugh aloud. Though I have stretched my lips into a smile, my inside is thumping like a bullet train, already in anxiety. 

They start to play— one by one, giving dares to each other. Olivia had to call up her husband and say that she had fallen out of love with him. Peyton had to flirt with a waiter and Anna had to literally break up with her boyfriend. I don't know where this is heading to. 

"It's your turn, Miss Benson. You didn't give a better dare to anyone. Why not give you one?" Olivia giggles.

I hold my breath with a smile. 

"So—" Olivia rolls her eyes around the dark hall with disco lights and chuckles. "I got a dare for you. Look over"

She points behind me. 

Prepared for the upcoming anxiety, I turn around and freeze in the direction she's pointing.

Kane!

No— I scream inside my head. My heart stops beating for a whole second, anticipation consuming me. My ex-boyfriend is just a few metres away from me, near the drinks area. 

My body becomes numb with the view of that man who used to be my boyfriend four years back. He's not looking at me but I can see him properly despite the darkness. How can I be mistaken to recognize him? 

Reality hits me as I immediately drive my eyes away from him, praying the dare not to be related to him. I hope Olivia is pointing out someone else. 

Lord! I can't.

"That's Mr Kane Gabriel", Olivia says. 

It happened to what I'm fearing the most. 

"One of our business partners. You'll have to go and kiss him"

I shudder on the spot. She gotta be kidding me. My eyes open wide with my heart pounding terribly. 

"Mrs Smith, I hope you're kidding", my voice shivers. 

"Not. Why would we? And you have a good opportunity to kiss such a handsome young man. Go on"

"He's an eligible bachelor, Miss Benson", Peyton winks. 

My brain stops working. 

"Mrs Smith, I really can't", I turn to her, almost begging. 

"What's this behaviour, Miss Benson?" Anna frowns. "Do you want us to plead to you? Don't ruin our mood. Just go and kiss him. You can say it was a dare after you're done. He's humble enough to understand"

I shake my head, unable to move. A storm is waiting for me. I can't face him.

"Miss Benson, I don't like to be turned down. When you're impressing a client, you don't only do it with your work but also with your humbleness outside the work. I hope you won't displease me to do something I don't want to"

Her smirk comes as a warning. 

It's been an entire year since I've been looking for an investor. My poor girls are waiting for their schools to get started and our ladies are waiting for the factory to reopen. If I lose this opportunity, it'll affect their lives more than mine.

I turn around, gulping.

Kane's back is facing me as he takes sips from his drink. He used to be too bad at consuming alcohol. One peg and he used to be out of sense. I don't know if he's still the same and can't handle much. The area is too dark to recognize anyone.

He won't recognize me in the dark after having so many shots— I console myself with this thought and step toward him, walking past the people dancing around. 

My head overloads with the flood of memories that I haven't thought of for years.

He's near— I can't believe he's just a few steps away from me after so many years. 

Why on this earth am I ending up here? 

I had only one wish while leaving the Texas city— never wanting to face him. The wish is crumbled today. 

However, settling my brain out of emotions, I stand there with my vibrating heart, attempting to hold his arm from behind. My hand shakes with two failed attempts. 

He shoves the glass aside and turns around abruptly. 

Panic possesses me. Even before our eyes can meet— in just a nanosecond, I grab his collar and pull him closer to me, capturing his intoxicating lips— tasted like vodka. 

I shudder from the core with those familiar lips tangling with mine. He doesn't respond, nor pushes me away when I kiss him nervously until his hard hand comes up to my neck, parting me away. 

Keeping only an inch of gap between us, he looks at me in the dark, not even seeing me properly. My heart sinks and beats faster than any other time, wondering what he would do now. 

Giving a rise in tension into my entire body, he seals my lips again with his ones, twirling me around. 

He drags me away from the counter, continuing to kiss me. My back slams against the wall harder as I feel my entire body pressed against his, the long arms caging me so harder that I can't even try to move. 

The kiss gets better and wilder with every passing second. He chews and consumes my lips like a hungry lion craving his favourite food for ages. 

With his warm tongue sliding down inside my mouth, the intensity builds inside me like an explosion. I go almost out of breath as he increases the pace of kissing me. 

My lazy hands land on his chest, doing the failed attempts to shove him away. He grabs my wrists and vigorously shoves them upon my head against the wall, grinding his body against mine. I lose control over my body completely with his strong arms capturing me like a prisoner. 

I can't move.

I can't even breathe.

I can only feel him and his crazy tongue strokes, his merciless bites over my lips. 

I give into him, tired of all the attempts, diving deep into the intense kiss I have ever had.

He never kissed me like this before. In our short relationship of fourteen months, I had never felt him kissing me so mercilessly, literally choking me like a beast. 

Except for the taste in his mouth, nothing is the same. 

I can't feel the love and affection it had before. 

Burning lust explodes with him with every lip stroke.

I groan, choking and running out of air. 

If he doesn't leave me now, I think I'm gonna succumb to death right over here.

Just when the thought crosses my mind, he shows some mercy, parting me away. 

I breathe heavily, squeezing my eyes shut, also feeling his cosy breath fanning my skin.

Oh, Lord. No. I can't face him.

I don't wanna face him. 

My fearful eyes part with the view of him just an inch away from my face. 

It's brighter and calmer out here. 

In the slightly brightened lobby light, I stare at the man fully in black, his dark intense eyes piercing straight at my heart with anxiety. Cold shivers run all over my body with the completely different face of the familiar person. There's nothing in his dark merciless eyes. Except for bitterness. 

He stares at me without blinking his eyes, without moving, without responding, scaring the hell out of me. 

I don't know him. It feels like he's completely a new person. 

"Sorry, it was a dare", that's what I utter after the passionate kiss, daring to look into his eyes. I get myself free from his grip as he lets me. 

I can still feel the familiar taste of that familiar mouth. He still feels the same, he still kisses me like there's no end, he's still passionate and possessive when he holds me in his arms. But he still doesn't look the same. 

A devilish smirk appears across his fierce face, his eyes darkening at me, making my breath catch. I'm still obsessed with the way he looks at me. 

"No, Emily. Not again", I tell myself and turn back, escaping the man who knows each bit of my soul, heart, and body.

Turning onto my heels, I rush to run away from him before it gets too late.

The tough palm wraps around my arm harshly, pulling me back against his hard chest as he possessively secures me in his arms. 

I knew it was going to go well. 

"Let me go", I whisper, struggling against his hard torso, guilty pleasure consuming me. His existence is still enough to make me weak on my knees. "Let me go, please", I plead.

"Not after you reminded me how you taste, Em", his hoarse whisper lets his warm breath brush across my neck as I shiver in his grip, weakening to my knees.

Amid all similarities, I can't find the old chirpy— vibrant man anymore. Instead, I feel the familiar man turning into a demon who wants nothing but to consume me again. This time not in love, but lust. 

Goosebumps cover my body as he swivels me around again and slams me back to the wall. Without giving me a chance to protest, he attacks the weak point of my body. 

I suck my breath, striving to protest when my body does the complete opposite. That warm mouth lands on my neck vigorously as he lustfully sucks the crook of my neck. 

He knows how to take my breath away and make me crave for more. I'm shocked by how my body is still craving him— even after so many years.

"Kane", I moan shamelessly, taking a fistful of his hair, and pressing his head against my chest. 

He slides his hand behind my neck, slowly getting under my hair as he clutches my hair, yanking them behind. 

I'm left desperate to have his mouth on me, throwing my head back in a sensation. 

"Your dirty moans are saying how badly you missed my touch under your skin. Right?"

I gulp down, trying to open my eyes and look at him, fighting with embarrassment. 

However, he doesn't let me do it either and pushes his finger under the strap of my dress, pulling it down. His sharp teeth land on my shoulder as I yelp in pleasure.

"Kane— please", I battle with my inner turmoil, pleasure consuming me. "No"

His hands slip down to my breasts, leaving me out of breath as I arch my back against the wall. My legs turn into jelly as I feel I'm gonna collapse at any time with his cruel tortures. 

"The way your body responds to my touch", his hoarse voice buzzes next to my ear. "It doesn't prove your resistance"

He hardly squeezes my breasts, sealing my lips again. This time his hard squeezes on my breasts makes me kiss him back lustfully, desires crumbling inside me after years.

I feel the warm wetness exploding in my entrance. 

God, if he feels that— he's not gonna stop.

Why can't I stop him?

I don't even realise the moment he pushes me up in his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist during the kiss, carrying me somewhere.

My heart beats a hundred times faster than before. I hear the sound of a door slamming and immediately pull my head back, rolling my eyes around the darkroom.

My heart sinks. Before I can utter anything, Kane pushes me onto the bed and scoots on top of me, hungrily kissing my neck again. 

"Ka— Kane. Ahhhh", I moan out of pleasure, my sanity screaming at me to stop. "Stop", I scream out of nowhere.

Tension builds inside my body as he pushes himself back, staring at me with his cold gaze. 

"You want me to stop?" His voice is cold and hoarse.

My throat dries up with those cruel eyes stinging my skin in lust. 

"Y— yes", I gulp down, feeling his hand tracing down to my body, slowly making its way to my inner thigh. 

I go numb, squeezing my eyes shut as he pushes his hand inside my skirt, tracing my lacy underwear. 

My pleasuring entrance hits his fingers, making me go crazier for more. 

"So fucking wet, you liar. You won't stop lying, huh! You won't stop fooling around", he grunts, pushing his fingers into my slippery entrance.

"Aahhhh", I hiss out of pleasurable pain, gripping his arm tightly. 

"You want me to stop?" He asks again, knowing how badly he made it impossible for me to resist him.

I can't speak out of both pleasure and embarrassment.

"Speak up", he seethes, vigorously pushing in and out of me as I whine against the bed like a shameless creature. 

"No. Please. Don't stop", I whimper, parting my eyelids half and witnessing him evilly smirking. 

That's what he wants. He wants me to beg like a slut and ask for more. But I don't care. My body doesn't care.