Chapter 49
Serena
"Long enough." He pushed off the doorframe, taking two steps into my office with that predatory grace he probably didn't even realize he had. "You were quite absorbed in your phone. I didn't want to interrupt."
Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God.
"I was just—" I fumbled with my phone, desperately trying to delete the unsent message. "Texting my friend. Nothing important. Just—"
"Greek sculpture?" One dark eyebrow rose fractionally. "That's flattering."
I wanted to die. To sink through the floor and keep falling until I hit the Earth's core.
"I wasn't—that wasn't—" My face felt like it was on fire. "I didn't mean—"
"And apparently my bedroom performance is noteworthy?" His voice remained perfectly level, but his eyes were definitely laughing now. "Though I'm curious how you'd know that, considering you spent last night in the guest room. Alone."
"I was exaggerating!" The words burst out before I could stop them. "I was just—Chloe was teasing me about not coming home, and I wanted to mess with her, and it got out of hand—"
Lance took another step closer. Then another. Until he was standing right in front of my desk, looking down at me with an expression I couldn't quite read.
"So to be clear," he said slowly, deliberately, "you were inventing stories about my sexual prowess to impress your friend?"
"I—yes? No?" I covered my face with my hands. "Can we please pretend this never happened?"
"Absolutely not." And there it was—the faintest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Not his usual controlled half-smile, but something more genuine. More amused. "This is the most interesting thing that's happened to me all day."
I peeked through my fingers. "You're enjoying this."
The smile vanished.
Lance leaned forward, bracing his hands on my desk, bringing his face level with mine. Close enough that I could see the darker flecks of blue in his grey eyes. Close enough that his breath ghosted across my cheek.
My heart stopped, then kicked into overdrive.
"No," he said quietly, his voice dropping to something low and dangerous. "But you still haven't answered my question."
"What question?" The words came out breathless.
"My bedroom performance." His gaze dropped to my lips for half a second before returning to my eyes. "You were about to tell your friend it was 'absolutely' what, exactly?"
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. My brain had short-circuited somewhere between his proximity and the heat radiating from his body.
"I—I don't—it was just—"
"Would you like to find out?" The question was barely a whisper. "Whether your fantasies match reality?"
Every cell in my body screamed yes.
"No!" I blurted out, my survival instincts finally kicking in. "No, no, no. Never. I mean—not never, but—" I was babbling now, words tumbling over each other. "What I meant to say is—"
Lance straightened abruptly, that satisfied smirk playing at his lips as he put distance between us. "Next time, Miss Vance, I'd advise against texting your fantasies where someone might overhear. Or see your screen. Or—" his eyes glittered with amusement, "—catch you grinning like a teenager in love."
Fuck. He'd seen right through me. Read every thought I'd been desperately trying to hide.
I opened my mouth to protest, to deny, to say something—
But Lance had already turned away, his attention shifting to my desk with that sharp, analytical gaze. He was doing his casual inspection thing—the CEO move where he pretended to be casually interested while actually cataloging every detail.
Then he stopped.
His entire body went rigid.
I watched the warmth drain from his expression, replaced by something cold and lethal as his hand reached out and picked up the business card from the corner of my desk.
Felix Lawson, Head of Global Procurement
"He came here." It wasn't a question. Lance's voice had gone arctic, all traces of teasing evaporated. "Felix came to your office."
"Yes," I said carefully, my heart rate spiking for entirely different reasons now. "He did. Earlier today."
Lance's fingers tightened on the card, his knuckles going white. "And?"
"And he invited me to lunch."
His eyes snapped to mine, and the look in them made me instinctively lean back in my chair. "Did you go?"