How To Lose Your Billionaire Alpha Husband In 365 Days (Or Less)!-Chapter 34: I Need This...

JASMINE’S POV

"I... I saw them," I choked out, the words barely making it past my lips. "My parents. The crash. It was the night they died—but something was wrong. I shouldn’t remember that. Because... I wasn’t in the car with them."

Aiden’s brows pulled together, his hands tightening on my shoulders. "You were dreaming," he said gently, but the slight strain in his voice betrayed him. "Just a nightmare."

"No." I said, shaking my head, my breath coming too fast, and my chest feeling tight. "It wasn’t just a nightmare. It felt... it felt like something real. Like something I should remember."

My fingers curled into the sheets, nails biting the fabric. "Like something I lived through but somehow forgot."

Aiden’s expression shifted, like he was holding back a dozen things he wanted to say. But instead, he did the only thing that felt right in the moment. He pulled me into him.

His arms wrapped tightly around me, grounding me as I trembled in his hold.

I rested my forehead against his shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent, warm and distinctly his, like a forest. It helped settle the storm of emotions in my chest.

My body shook from the inside out. My emotions, already tangled from everything that had happened since I stepped into this world, cracked wide open.

I didn’t even realise I was crying until I felt the wetness on his shirt and heard myself sniff.

He rubbed slow circles into my back. "It’s okay," he whispered. "You’re okay."

But I wasn’t. I wasn’t okay at all. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And yet, somehow... in his arms, I felt safer than I had in years.

When I finally pulled back, my hands stayed on his chest. I was still breathing too fast, trying to catch my breath, but the panic had faded, leaving something else in its wake.

His eyes locked onto mine, wide with concern, but there was something else flickering underneath—uncertainty and restraint.

He looked at me like he didn’t know if he had the permission to touch me again.

And I hated it.

My gaze dropped to his mouth.

That mouth that had kissed me like I meant something only hours ago, and then left me standing in the dark with questions.

But here, now, in the soft glow of moonlight and the aftershock of my nightmare, I didn’t feel afraid.

I felt something else entirely.

Want.

Need.

I leaned in, slowly, not really thinking things through. My fingers curled into his shirt. His breath caught when my lips brushed his, just barely.

And then I kissed him.

At first, he didn’t move.

He froze beneath me, like I’d knocked the wind out of him.

But then he exhaled a low, shaky breath and kissed me back.

It wasn’t gentle.

It wasn’t tentative.

It was the kind of kiss that felt intense and immediate, something powerful that didn’t need words. It filled the gaps left by the things we hadn’t expressed.

Aiden’s hand slid into my hair, fisting it gently as he pulled me closer.

The other arm wrapped tightly around my waist, anchoring me against him. His mouth moved against mine like he’d been starving for this—for me—and suddenly, I wasn’t cold anymore. I wasn’t scared.

I was on fire.

I shifted, climbing onto his lap without breaking the kiss, my knees settling on either side of his hips. My thighs pressed against his, and I felt the tension ripple through him, like he was holding on by a thread.

I pressed against him once, slowly and deliberately, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

"Jasmine..." he warned in a hoarse voice, but I kissed him again, harder.

"Don’t stop," I whispered against his mouth, my voice shaking with want. "Please. I need this."

He let out a low and guttural groan, producing a sound that sounded as though it had been pulled from somewhere deep within him.

During the process of pulling me impossibly closer, his hands slid under my shirt, and his calloused palms spread out across my back.

My hips moved again, instinctively now, chasing the friction, the heat, the pressure curling low in my belly.

He was so warm, so solid beneath me, and the way his hands gripped my body made me feel like I might come undone right there.

His mouth left mine to trail down my jaw, kissing the line of my neck and my collarbone. My head tilted back on reflex, eyes fluttering shut as he sucked gently at the base of my throat.

I moaned, soft and breathy. "Aiden..."

His hands tightened at my waist. "We should stop," he murmured, his voice sounding strained. "You’re... you’re vulnerable. You had a nightmare. I don’t want to take advantage of—"

"You’re not," I whispered, cutting him off. "I’m not confused. I know what I want."

He exhaled shakily, like he was still fighting with himself. "You’re not going to regret this in the morning?"

"No." I kissed him again, slow and sure. "But I’ll regret it if you pull away again."

His eyes met mine, dark, stormy, and full of everything he wouldn’t say.

And then something in him snapped.

He kissed me hard, lips crashing onto mine with the kind of need that could swallow stars. There was no more hesitation, no more restraint—only fire.

He kissed me like he wanted to consume me, and gods, I liked it. I wanted him.

His hands gripped my thighs, and in one fluid motion, he lifted me off his lap and laid me back on the bed. His body hovered over mine, a shadow cast in silver by the moonlight spilling in through the window.

The look in his eyes was pure heat—unapologetic lust, need, hunger. All of it. And it was aimed squarely at me.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. My body burned under his gaze.

My mind flicked—just for a second—back to that dream I’d had. The one that had left me breathless and aching in the dark, drenched in sweat and shame.

But this wasn’t a dream.

This was real.