Chapter 23 Poaching Attempts
Briar's POV
Sienna's gaze slid past me and landed on Lucian. She pulled a business card from her clutch and held it out to him with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"You're clearly too talented to be playing assistant," she said smoothly. "Montgomery Medical Group is always looking for people with your caliber. The compensation package would be significantly better than whatever you're getting now."
There was something deeply wrong about the way she was looking at Lucian, like he was a prize to be won rather than a person.
Lucian's expression remained completely neutral. He didn't reach for the card.
Before anyone else could react, Ash shot out of his seat and snatched the business card from Sienna's hand. He tore it cleanly in half, then let the pieces flutter to the floor.
"Do you have any idea who my brother actually is?" Ash's voice was sharp with indignation. "And you think you can just poach him like some entry-level employee?"
Sienna's face flushed red. She reached out and shoved Ash hard enough that he stumbled back a step. "How dare you—"
Lucian moved. One moment he was standing behind me, the next he had Ash's arm in his grip and was pulling his brother back behind him in one smooth motion. The air in the restaurant seemed to thicken, pressure building like the moment before a thunderstorm breaks. Sienna took an involuntary step backward, her eyes going wide.
I felt it too, that overwhelming sense of dominance that made my wolf want to bare her throat in submission. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared, but Sienna was already retreating.
"I think you should leave now," Lucian said quietly, and Sienna practically fled.
The table fell into uncomfortable silence after she left. I found myself thinking about what Sienna had said, about how whoever was feeding her information clearly had access to details about my financial situation. The memory of this afternoon's meeting flickered through my mind, faces of people I'd worked with for years. Jack from Finance with his careful spreadsheets.
One of them was selling me out, and I had no idea which one. I needed to set a trap, feed each of them slightly different information and see which version made it back to Sienna.
The dinner wound down shortly after that. Garrett arrived to pick up Rowan, and I stood to head to the front desk to settle the bill. The hostess smiled apologetically when I gave her my card.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your table has already been paid for."
"By who?"
"The gentleman who was sitting with you."
I turned and found Lucian watching me from across the restaurant. He inclined his head slightly, and I felt that complicated tangle of gratitude and unease that seemed to follow every interaction we had. Ash waved goodbye as he headed out to meet friends, leaving just Lucian and me.
We walked out, and I noticed Lucian had stopped at the corner of the building with his phone pressed to his ear.
"I already told you not to interfere with my decisions." His tone was ice-cold, nothing like the careful neutrality he usually maintained. "This conversation is over."
He ended the call. When he finally turned around, the coldness hadn't left his face, hard lines and shuttered eyes that made him look like a completely different person. Then he saw me standing there and something shifted, the frost melting away so quickly I might have imagined it.
"Ready to go?" he asked, and his voice was back to normal.
I followed him to where his car was parked. My steps faltered when I saw it. A black Maybach, sleek and expensive and completely at odds with everything I thought I knew about Lucian's financial situation. He opened the passenger door for me without comment.
"Where to?" he asked as he started the engine.
"Emerald Bay. Building C."
His head turned sharply toward me, gray-green eyes searching my face with an expression I couldn't quite read. It was there and gone in a flash.
I watched the city lights blur past and tried not to think about the phone call I'd overheard. Finally, I couldn't help myself.
"Everything okay? That phone call sounded pretty intense."
"Fasten your seatbelt."
It wasn't an answer, and we both knew it. I clicked the belt into place and didn't push further. My gaze drifted to the center console, where a watch lay casually discarded. I recognized it immediately. Patek Philippe Nautilus, blue face.
Lucian glanced down at the watch, then back at the road. "Three hundred dollars online. Looks expensive, helps with client meetings."
The explanation was smooth and reasonable, and I might have believed it if I hadn't spent the last two hours watching him casually wield Alpha presence and pay for dinner without blinking.
The Maybach pulled up to the gates of Emerald Bay, and I tensed, ready to give my unit number for the security check. But the guard took one look at the license plate and waved us through without a word.
"Which building?" Lucian asked.
"C. You can park anywhere."
He found a spot near the entrance and cut the engine. I unbuckled my seatbelt but didn't get out.
"Wait here for five minutes," I said. "I'll be right back."
I grabbed the burn ointment from my medicine cabinet and made it back downstairs. Lucian was leaning against the Maybach with his hands in his pockets, looking up at the night sky.
I walked over and held out the small tube. He looked at it, then at me, but didn't move to take it.
"For the burn," I explained.
"It's already healing."
"Humor me."
He still didn't take the tube, so I opened it myself, squeezed a small amount onto my fingers, and reached for his hand. He let me take it without protest, his skin warm against mine as I gently spread the ointment over the red mark on his forearm. Neither of us spoke.
This was the moment I'd been working toward all day. Build trust, create physical contact, observe his reaction. I finished applying the ointment and let my fingers linger on his palm, tracing small circles against his skin. When I finally pulled my hand away, I let my fingertips drag across his.
"Thank you for taking care of dinner," I said, stepping back. "And for everything else today. It's getting late, so you should probably head home."
Lucian's eyes had gone dark and unreadable. He curled his fingers into his palm, his gaze fixed on me with an intensity that made my breath catch. Then he straightened up and took a step forward, closing the distance between us until we were less than two feet apart.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I felt my wolf rising up with a desperate need to submit that terrified me almost as much as it thrilled me.
Lucian's hand came up slowly, his fingers brushing against my temple where the wind had pulled strands of hair loose. He tucked them back carefully, his touch feather-light as it traced the shell of my ear and down along my jawline. His fingertips came to rest at the hollow of my collarbone, warm pressure against my racing pulse.
I couldn't breathe. Every nerve ending in my body was focused on the point where his skin met mine.
Then his hand lifted away and settled on my shoulder instead, a brief pat.
"You're right," he said, his voice perfectly steady. "It is getting late. Get some rest, Briar."
He was in the car and pulling away before I could formulate a response, leaving me standing alone in the parking lot with my skin still tingling from his touch.