NATHAN CROSS STRIKE BACK..

Chapter 18

Claire stared at her employer, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"Miss Sterling, he is—"

"What he just did is working," Vivienne said quietly, cutting her off. "It is literally working. I can feel it."

She paused, taking a slow, careful breath.

"Allow him to finish what he knows how to do," Vivienne continued. "Allow him to finish it. I am sure it is going to work. Just allow him to do it."

Claire stood frozen, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her entire body rigid with barely controlled fury and helpless frustration.

But she did not move, She did not speak.

She just stood there, watching, her jaw so tight it ached.

Vivienne lay against Nathan's leg, her head tilted back slightly, her eyes half-closed.

And deep down, beneath the pain that was still present but fading, beneath the fear that had gripped her when she thought she was going to die, there was something else.

Wonder, Disbelief, gratitude.

She could not believe it.

She could not believe that this stranger  this man whose name she barely knew, whose face she had only seen clearly for the first time minutes ago was actually helping her.

Actually saving her, She did not know how he was doing it.

She did not know that Nathan was infusing spiritual energy into her body, that he was using techniques and knowledge that should not exist in this modern world.

But what she did know what she could feel with absolute certainty — was that it was working.

Just his palm, Just the physical contact between them.

She could feel the warmth spreading through her body like sunlight melting ice. It was as if the terrible, unnatural cold that had been consuming her from the inside out was just... disappearing.

Not slowly, not gradually.

But almost instantly, wherever his hand touched her.

Like magic, Like a miracle, and the sensation was so familiar.

So impossibly, undeniably familiar.

At that moment, Vivienne's mind drifted back to what had happened last night.

The memories were fragmented. Hazy. Like trying to remember a dream after waking.

But they were there, She remembered warmth.

She remembered feeling safe in a way she had not felt in years.

She remembered... contact, physical contact.

Skin against skin.

And she remembered losing her virginity.

The memory hit her like a physical blow, and her eyes flew open slightly.

"Last night."

"This same man."

She had lost her virginity to Nathan Cross.

She did not remember all the details. She did not remember how it had happened or why or what circumstances had led to it.

But she remembered the feeling.

She remembered how alive she had felt. How vibrant. How present in her own body in a way she had never experienced before.

It was as if she had been on top of the world.

Even though she had not planned it. Even though she should not have done it. Even though everything about that night was wrong and reckless and completely out of character for her.

It had been one of the best things she had ever felt.

And now, feeling that same warmth spreading through her body again, feeling that same impossible sense of rightness and safety and connection, she did not want it to stop.

It was as if she had just met her soulmate.