The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

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Lila hesitated for a heartbeat, then, steeling herself, she rose onto her tiptoes. Her hands came up to cup Damon’s face, fingers brushing against his jaw, and she pressed her lips to his.

The contact was electric. Damon’s reaction was instantaneous-he wrapped a strong arm around her waist, pulling her flush against him, pressing her gently but firmly against the door. The sudden closeness made her catch her breath, her heart hammering in her chest.

She looked up at him, searching his dark eyes for any clue of what he was thinking. “Is this enough?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, trembling with a mix of defiance and longing.

“Not yet,” Damon replied, his tone low, dangerous, and commanding.

For a long, suspended moment, the office was silent except for the sound of their heavy breaths, the rapid rhythm of their hearts, and the heat of their bodies pressed together. Every inch of the air between them seemed to crackle with tension and unspoken words, a storm held back only by the fragile restraint of reason -and neither seemed willing to give it up.

Time slowed. Every sound, every movement, every subtle shift in weight was magnified. In that private office, away from the world, there was only the two of them-charged, unyielding, and impossible to ignore.

Lila felt it in every nerve: the pull, the power, the danger. And deep down, she realized that for all her frustration, for all her anger, for all her determination to protect Ethan, she had also stepped into Damon’s storm. And there was no turning back.

Maddy smoothed down the pleats of her skirt and checked her reflection in the tinted glass of the hallway window. A careful swipe beneath her eyes. A press of her lips together. Perfect.

She walked slowly toward Damon’s office, heels clicking in a measured rhythm against the marble floor.

She was certain he was furious with Lila. And on days like this-on days when Damon’s temper simmered just beneath the surface-Maddy always made sure she was the one who soothed him. The only one who could.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Simon’s car pulling out of the parking lot. Interesting. Her lips curved faintly. Whatever storm had brewed inside that office, she was ready for it.

She didn’t bother knocking.

Maddy pushed the door open.

The sight before her stopped her cold.

Lila was seated on Damon’s lap.

Damon’s face was buried against Lila’s chest, his sleeves rolled up, the top buttons of his shirt undone. Lila’s fingers were tangled in his hair. Both of them were breathless-chests rising and falling as though they had just finished running a marathon.

For a split second, Maddy couldn’t breathe.

11:40 Mon, May 4

Chapter 27

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Her blood boiled, heat rushing to her face. The air in the room felt thick, suffocating. She gripped the edge of the door, nails digging into the wood to steady herself.

This wasn’t anger.

It was humiliation. Betrayal. A sharp, blinding fury that threatened to strip her composure away.

She had walked in expecting to be the calm after his storm.

Instead, she had walked into the storm itself.

And she was no longer sure she would survive it with her pride intact.

Damon slowly lifted his face and looked at Maddy, who was now standing in the doorway.

Lila instantly rose to her feet, but Damon reached out and steadied her before she could lose her balance. His hand lingered at her waist for a brief second, grounding her.

“Maddy… what are you doing here?” Damon asked quietly.

He didn’t look at her.

Instead, he focused on Lila-gently smoothing her disheveled hair back into place, carefully fixing the collar of her shirt as though nothing else in the room existed.

Maddy’s gaze dropped to the floor. Papers were scattered everywhere, some crumpled, some half-torn, forming a silent picture she didn’t need explained.

The room felt smaller. Heavier.

“I should go,” Lila said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Damon’s hand tightened slightly at her arm, but he didn’t stop her.

“Remember what you said, Damon,” Lila added, her eyes holding his for a moment longer than necessary.

Then she turned and walked out of the office, the quiet click of the door echoing louder than it should have.

Damon’s eyes followed Lila until she disappeared down the hallway.

The door remained slightly ajar, swaying once before settling into stillness.

Only then did he move.

He crouched down and began gathering the scattered papers from the floor, one sheet at a time-calm, precise, perfectly unbothered. The top button of his shirt hung undone, his tie loosened at the collar, yet he made no effort to fix it.

Maddy stood frozen for a moment, her pulse uneven.

No.

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Chapter 27

She could not lose herself in front of him.

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Not now.

She inhaled slowly, steadying her breath, forcing her expression into something composed. Then she stepped forward and knelt beside him, helping gather the documents in silence.

Their fingers brushed once as they reached for the same page.

Neither acknowledged it.

“You should go home and rest,” Damon said gently, stacking the papers into a neat pile.

His tone held none of the sharp anger he had carried since that morning. It was calm. Measured. Almost tired.

Maddy glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

The tension she had braced herself against was gone. In its place was something distant-something she could not quite read.

That Lila… so shameless.

Maddy’s jaw tightened, though her face remained soft.

Walking into his office like that. Looking at him like that.

Her anger toward Lila swelled, quiet but burning, settling deep in her chest like a vow she had yet to speak aloud.

Lila drove without turning on the radio.

The silence inside the car was loud-filled with Damon’s voice, the heat of his touch, the recklessness of what they had done.

She tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

At the next intersection, she made a sudden turn and pulled into the parking lot of a small drugstore. The fluorescent lights inside felt harsh against her tired eyes.

She walked straight to the counter, bought an emergency pill, and stepped back out into the cool evening air.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, tore open the small package, and swallowed one pill dry. The second she tucked carefully into the car’s compartment, closing it with a quiet click.

Just in case.

That night, she stayed at Ina’s place.

Ina didn’t interrupt as Lila recounted everything-the argument, the tension, how it escalated in Damon’s office, how they had shamelessly given in to something neither of them had meant to cross.

11:40 Mon, May 4

Chapter 27

When Lila finally fell silent, Ina leaned closer, eyes gleaming with mischief.

“Office?” Ina repeated, a slow smirk forming on her lips.

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Before Lila could protest, Ina reached out and gently tilted her chin.

“Unbelievable.”

Her fingers brushed lightly along Lila’s neck, down to her collarbone.

Fresh love bites bloomed across her skin-faintly red, unmistakable.

Ina let out a low whistle.

“So this is what ‘we shouldn’t do this’ looks like?”

Lila slapped her hand away, cheeks flushing.

“Ina!”

But Ina only laughed, clearly entertained.

“You walk in looking all dramatic, and now I see why,” she teased, leaning back on the couch. “Someone was very busy.”

Lila grabbed a cushion and threw it at her friend, though she couldn’t suppress the embarrassed smile tugging at her lips.

Still, when Ina wasn’t looking, her fingers drifted to the marks on her skin.

Her expression softened.

Because beneath the teasing… beneath the recklessness… she knew one thing.

Damon hadn’t held back.

11:40 Mon, May 4