16/03/2026
I stood by the window, the Story Bridge glowing in a deep, rhythmic crimson that matched the thudding of my heart. Below us, the city was celebrating, thousands of eyes fixed on the sky. But up here, thirty floors above the noise, the only eyes on me were his and they were darker than any shadow in the room.
"Look at the lights, Anastasia," he whispered, his breath hot against my neck as he pulled my hands behind my back.
We didn't turn on a single lamp. We let the neon strobes of the city pulse against the brick walls, casting long, predatory shadows that danced in sink with our breathing. Every time the light show shifted from a cold, electric blue to a burning, visceral orange his grip tightened. He moved me like a slow, deliberate melody, our bodies tangling in the glow of a thousand city bulbs.
The yearning was thick, a physical weight in the air. As the grand finale erupted over the river, shaking the very glass we were pressed against, I realised the real show wasn't happening in the sky. It was happening right here, in the silence of the loft, where the only thing louder than the fireworks was the sound of my own surrender.
Some lights are meant to illuminate the city. Others are meant to expose your deepest desires.