Page 66 of Velvet Corruption

He didn’t speak at all until we were pulling up to my house—Julian’s house, really, though I didn’t like thinking of it that way. But Kieran? He was thinking about it. I could feel it in the shift of his body, the way his eyes flicked over the facade like he was already cataloguing the windows, the door, the places he could walk in without being invited.

When he finally did speak, his voice was too casual. A slow drawl that made my skin prickle.

“You know,” he said, “you could’ve just asked me to stay here.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, it’s aspirational. I’m aspiring.”

I snorted, trying to hide the way my pulse jumped. “You didn’t even give me the chance. You just took me back to yours.”

“Yeah, I was worried you weren’t going to ask me to stay,” he said, eyes never leaving my face. “Didn’t want to leave anythingto chance. But don’t worry, Rubes… next time, you won’t even have to say it. I’ll know.”

My throat tightened. “And what if there isn’t a next time?”

He smiled, slow and sharp. The kind of smile that promised things I wasn’t ready to admit I wanted.

“Then I’ll just have to live with the memory,” he murmured. “Of the way you pulled my hair…your thighs wrapped around me, you grinding on my cock in nothing but those black underwear. Let’s just say…I’ve got a few new fantasies about you, this place…that drawer in your nightstand.”

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

“Go fuck yourself, Callahan,” I said, but it came out breathy.

“Maybe later,” he said. “You rest. I’ll take my car…looks like Hannah dropped it off.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks.”

He started to get out, but paused. “And Ruby?”

I turned.

He grinned. “Try not to think about me too much.”

I slammed the door harder than I needed to, the impact reverberating through the early morning quiet. It wasn’t until I was halfway up the steps that I realized how badly my hands were shaking. I wanted to scream. I wanted to laugh. Mostly, I wanted to march back to the car and tell him—tell him what? I didn’t even know.

But…this was my car. He was going to take Hannah’s car. I needed to get my keys back.

Fuck.

I turned back around and grimaced.

“Looking for these?” he asked, waving them in front of my face.

“Just give them to me.”

He smirked, depositing them softly into my uninjured hand, his skin practically burning mine.

“See you later, Ruby,” he said.

I didn’t say anything—because even if I told him to stay the hell away from me, I was sure he would be back. I turned around, walking purposefully up the stairs. But the sound of the engine faded into the distance, leaving me alone with nothing but questions and the taste of that goddamn coffee still on my lips.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I exhaled, pressing my back against it for just a second. It was different here. Not like the curated tidiness of Kieran’s place, where everything had been set exactly as he wanted it—designed for control, for efficiency, for calculated charm. My home would have life. It would be messy, imperfect, mine.

Which meant that the fact that this was Julian’s home—just as perfect as Kieran’s—felt like a slap in the face.

And yet, standing here, I could still feel the ghost of Kieran’s presence. The warmth of the coffee still clung to my lips. The weight of his words sat somewhere deep in my stomach.

Fuck him.