Alexander's bedroom door closed behind them with a soft click that seemed to reverberate through Sophia's entire body. The sound was final, decisive, the last barrier between their professional relationship and whatever this was about to become.
She stood frozen near the threshold, suddenly hyperaware of everything: the masculine scent of his cologne lingering in the air, the way moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting silver patterns across the hardwood floors, the king-sized bed that dominated the space like an unspoken promise.
But mostly, she was aware of Alexander.
He stood a few feet away, his shirt already wrinkled from her eager hands, his dark hair mussed where her fingers had run through it downstairs. In the dim lighting, he looked like some fallen angel, beautiful, dangerous, and utterly magnetic. His chest rose and fell with controlled breathing, but she could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he fought for restraint.
"Sophia." Her name was a whisper, a prayer, a question all rolled into one.
She turned to face him fully, her heart hammering so loudly she was certain he could hear it. "I'm here," she said softly. "I'm not going anywhere."
Something shifted in his expression at her words, relief, gratitude, and something much darker, much hungrier. He took a step toward her, then another, moving with the fluid grace that had first caught her attention months ago.
"Do you have any idea," he said, his voice dropping to that rough whisper that made her pulse skip, "how many nights I've stood at this window, thinking about you? Wondering what it would be like to have you here, in my space, in my bed?"
The confession sent heat spiraling through her body. "Tell me," she breathed.
Alexander's eyes blazed. "I'd imagine calling your name and having you come to me. Not as the nanny, not as an employee, but as the woman I…" He stopped, swallowing hard.
"As the woman you what?" Sophia stepped closer, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"As the woman I love," he finished, the words torn from somewhere deep in his chest. "As the woman who owns every piece of my broken heart."
Before she could respond, his hands were framing her face with infinite tenderness, thumbs brushing across her cheekbones. "I need to kiss you," he said urgently. "I need to kiss you until you forget every cruel word I said, until you remember that you're everything to me."
"Alexander," she whispered, rising up on her toes.
Their lips met in a collision of desperate need and tender love, more purposeful. Alexander kissed her like he was trying to pour his entire soul into the connection, and Sophia met him with equal fervor, her hands fisting in his shirt to pull him closer.
The taste of him, mint and whiskey and something uniquely Alexander made her dizzy with want. When his tongue traced the seam of her lips, she opened for him immediately, a soft moan escaping as he deepened the kiss. His hands tangled in her hair, angling her head to better access her mouth, and Sophia felt herself melting into him completely.
When they finally broke apart, both were breathing heavily. Alexander rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed as if savoring the moment.
"I've been dying without you," he confessed against her lips. "These past two weeks have been hell."
"I know," Sophia said, her own voice thick with emotion. "I felt it too."
His hands slid from her face to her shoulders, then down her arms, leaving trails of electricity in their wake. "I want to worship you," he said, his voice rough with desire and reverence. "I want to show you exactly how precious you are, how sorry I am, how much I need you."
The words sent liquid heat pooling low in her belly. "Show me," she whispered.
Alexander's control visibly frayed at her permission. His hands found the hem of her sweater, fingers skimming the bare skin of her waist. The contact made her gasp, her body arching into his touch involuntarily.
"May I?" he asked, and when she nodded, he slowly lifted the garment over her head, revealing the simple white lace bra beneath.
Alexander's breath caught, his eyes drinking her in like a man seeing sunlight after years of darkness. "Beautiful," he murmured reverently, his hands tracing the curves of her body with worshipful touches. "So incredibly beautiful."
Emboldened by the wonder in his voice, Sophia reached for his shirt, working the remaining buttons free with trembling fingers. When she pushed the fabric from his shoulders, revealing the defined planes of his chest and the lean muscles of his torso, it was her turn to stare.
"My God," she breathed, her hands exploring the warm skin, marveling at the way he shuddered under her touch.
"Sophia," Alexander groaned, catching her hands in his larger ones. "If you keep touching me like that, I won't be able to go slow."
"Maybe I don't want to be slow," she said, surprising herself with her boldness.
The words seemed to break something inside Alexander. With a growl of need, he swept her up in his arms, carrying her to the bed where he laid her down with exquisite care. The cool silk comforter contrasted with the heat of her skin, and she felt beautiful, desired, cherished under his intense gaze.
"My goddess," he murmured, settling beside her and trailing kisses from her collarbone to the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. "My salvation. My everything."
Every touch was worship, every kiss a declaration of love and apology. Alexander mapped her body with his hands and lips, learning what made her gasp, what made her arch into him, what made her whisper his name like a prayer. When his mouth found the racing pulse at her throat, Sophia's hands tangled in his dark hair, holding him to her.
"I love you," he whispered against her heated skin. "I love you so much it scares me, but I'm done being afraid. I'm done running from the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"I love you too," Sophia replied, pulling him up for another searing kiss. "Even when I was angry, even when I was hurt…I never stopped loving you."
The confession seemed to undo him completely. Alexander's kisses grew more urgent, more desperate, as if he was trying to make up for every moment they'd lost to his cowardice and fear. His hands roamed her body with increasing boldness, and Sophia met his passion with her own, her touches growing bolder as inhibitions fell away.
"You're mine," Alexander said fiercely, his lips moving against the shell of her ear. "Say it, Sophia. Say you're mine."
"I'm yours," she breathed, meaning it with every fiber of her being. "And you're mine."
"Always," he promised, sealing the vow with a kiss that tasted of forever.
As moonlight painted them in silver and their professional boundaries dissolved completely, Alexander marveled at the miracle of the woman in his arms. Sophia hadn't just brought light back into his children's lives…she'd resurrected him from the grave of grief and made him believe in love again.
The careful distance they'd maintained was gone forever, replaced by something deeper, truer, and infinitely more powerful. Their first kiss had become their first promise of forever, and as passion consumed them both, Alexander knew he was exactly where he belonged.