Marriage with my daughter's father: Darling please be gentle - Chapter 181

Chapter 181: Chapter 181:
Gina’s hands slid beneath the collar of Sean’s shirt, fingertips tracing the warm skin along his shoulders.

He exhaled a shaky breath as she kissed down the line of his jaw, her lips moving slowly, deliberately, igniting heat wherever they touched.

She could feel the way his muscles tensed beneath her restrained, like he was holding back—but his hands roamed with purpose.

One gripped her waist, the other slid up her back, anchoring her against him as if he couldn’t stand even a sliver of space between them.

“You’re dangerous,” he murmured against her throat, his lips brushing over the sensitive skin there. “You know that?”

“And you like danger,” she whispered back, pressing closer until her chest was flush against his.

Sean groaned softly, his grip tightening. His mouth returned to hers—hungry now, deeper—and the kiss turned urgent, desperate, like they were trying to drown in each other and forget everything else.

Gina responded with the same fire, her body moving instinctively, giving as much as she took.

But then—just as his hands slipped beneath the hem of her shirt, just as their kisses slowed into something far more intimate than rushed desire—Sean paused.

His lips hovered over hers, breath heavy, eyes locked with hers.

Something flickered in his expression.

He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing the flush in her skin. “Gina…”

She stilled.

There was something different in the way he said her name. Like a question. Like a need.

“What is this to you?” he asked, voice low but suddenly raw.

Her eyes widened slightly. The question hit harder than she expected.

Sean looked at her—really looked at her—and the confidence he usually carried was gone, stripped bare beneath the weight of vulnerability.

“Because I can’t keep pretending this doesn’t mean more to me,” he continued, almost in a whisper. “Not when you’re all I think about when you’re not around. Not when I feel like I’ve already let you get under my skin.”

Gina opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out right away. This wasn’t the plan. She came for a distraction. A thrill. A little fire to keep her night interesting.

But now—sitting here with his heartbeat racing beneath her palms, with his eyes begging her for the truth—she couldn’t lie to herself anymore.

“It’s the same for me, Sean,” Gina said softly, and his eyes lit up with a flicker of hope.

“You do the same to me—you make me feel things I never planned to feel, make me want things I’ve spent my whole life running from.” Her voice trembled slightly, not from weakness but from the weight of what she was admitting. “And love… it scares the hell out of me.”

Sean stayed quiet, watching her intently as she opened herself to him, layer by guarded layer.

“I like being with you,” she continued, eyes searching his. “I like kissing you, touching you, and talking to you. But when those feelings start creeping past that—when they start to mean more—that’s when the fear sets in.”

She lowered her gaze, as if afraid to meet the tenderness in his. “Love is too fragile for me, Sean. And I don’t know if I’m meant for it. I don’t know if I can do it.”

Sean’s chest tightened at her confession. The vulnerability in her voice, the haunted look in her eyes—it spoke of a past full of cracks and scars she still carried. She wasn’t pushing him away. She was just scared of breaking what was finally beginning to feel real.

He reached out and gently cupped her face, his thumb brushing the edge of her cheekbone.

“Gina,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “you are meant to love—and to be loved—in every possible way. Don’t ever think otherwise.”

Her eyes shimmered; her breath caught in her throat.

“You’re not broken. You’re not unworthy,” he added, his forehead resting lightly against hers. “You’re fire, and strength, and softness all in one. And I’ll wait—I’ll be patient. Just don’t shut me out.”

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch like it grounded her.

For the first time in a long time, Gina didn’t feel like she had to fight alone. And maybe—just maybe—this wasn’t the kind of love that would shatter her.

Maybe this was the kind that would set her free.

“I won’t,” she whispered, her breath brushing his lips as their foreheads stayed pressed together. Then, without hesitation, she leaned in and claimed his mouth in a kiss.

Sean kissed her back with equal hunger, pouring every emotion he couldn’t quite say into the way their lips moved. The kiss deepened, searing and consuming, until they were both breathless and had to break apart, gasping softly.

He eased back onto the couch, pulling her with him. Gina rested against his chest, her head rising and falling with the rhythm of his breathing.

She could hear the strong, steady thump of his heart beneath her cheek, and it made her smile—like she had finally found a moment of stillness in the chaos of everything else.

Then Sean broke the silence, his voice a soft murmur against the quiet.

“How long has your mother known Alexander?”

The smile on Gina’s face faded.

She blinked slowly, the warmth in her chest giving way to unease at the mention of that name. Her fingers curled slightly against his shirt.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted after a pause. “But I know she met him only once that I can remember. And yet… that one meeting stuck with me because after that meeting, she killed herself.”

Sean’s hand stilled on her back, his thoughts clearly shifting gears.

“He was present at a summit years ago,” he said, more to himself than to her. “With Kalix’s parents. And we think… there’s a chance he knew them. Maybe even more than he let on.”

Gina raised her head slowly to meet his gaze. “You think he’s involved in everything going on now?”

Sean didn’t answer immediately. His jaw tensed, his mind clearly working through pieces of a puzzle that hadn’t yet revealed the full picture.

“I don’t know,” he said at last. “But I’ve learned that people who stay in the shadows for too long usually have something to hide.”

A heavy silence settled between them as the implications lingered in the air.

And even as her body remained wrapped in the comfort of Sean’s arms, Gina couldn’t help but feel the chill of a storm approaching.