NO LINES CROSSED

SIENNA'S POV

My heart was still hammering when I reached the top of the stairs. I didn’t look back again. I couldn’t. That last line had slipped out before I could stop it, and now it hung in the air like it belonged there.

You’re not as cold as you pretend to be. What was I thinking? The man had basically bought me for a year to fix his company’s image. If that wasn't cold, then what is?

I pushed open the door to my room and closed it behind me a little too hard. The room was huge and quiet. The bed was perfectly made like no one had ever slept in it. I tossed my heels into the corner and paced for a minute, the black dress suddenly feeling too tight, too much like an armor I didn’t need anymore.

The dinner replayed in my head, the way his arm felt under my fingers, steady and warm. The way the board members had watched us like we were some live experiment. I had touched his arm once on purpose, just to sell the story, and he hadn’t pulled away. If anything, he had even leaned into it for half a second. Or maybe I imagined that part.

I unzipped the dress and let it fall, then pulled on an oversized T-shirt and shorts from the ridiculous closet.

I couldn’t just fall asleep, it felt impossible. My mind kept circling back to the car ride, the way he looked at me when I asked about being on the same side. Like he wanted to say more but wouldn’t let himself.

A soft knock sounded on the connecting door between our suites, the locked one.

“It’s late, Lucian.”

His voice came through. “The supplier file. You left a note about final signatures. I need the contact details before morning calls.”

I almost laughed.

Of course, it was business. What else would he possibly want to speak about? 

I walked over and unlocked the door, cracking it open. He stood there in the hallway light with his suit jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled again, looking unfairly composed for someone who’d just endured three hours of fake smiles and to make matters worse, I stared at his adams apple as he swallowed his spit and could help the thoughts of how hot he looked.

“You couldn’t wait until breakfast?” I asked, leaning against the doorframe.

He held up his phone. “Harold already texted. He’s impressed and automatically wants more.”

I stepped aside to let him in, keeping the door wide open like a warning. He didn’t come far, just enough to hand me the phone so I could forward the email. Our fingers brushed again and that same stupid warmth from earlier shot up my arm.

“There,” I said, sending it. “Happy now? Your board thinks I’m some miracle worker instead of the enemy’s daughter.”

He took the phone back but didn’t move away.

“They think you’re competent. That’s rarer than you'd believe.”

I crossed my arms, suddenly aware of how little what I was wearing was.

“Competent? Wow. Save the romance for the cameras.”

A ghost of a smile touched his mouth. “You handled Margaret better than most of my executives. She eats people alive.”

“She tried. I just didn’t give her the spoon.”

He chuckled once, quiet and surprised, like he hadn’t meant to. The sound did something unfair to my stomach. “You’ve got a mouth on you, Sienna.”

“Comes with the family name. You should try it sometime. It might help crack that ice a little more.”

He stepped closer, eyes locked on mine. The air between us strong and heavy with everything we weren’t saying. The way his gaze dropped to my lips for half a second before snapping back up made me swallow hard.

“You keep pushing,” he said. His voice lower now. “Most people learn not to.”

“I’m not most people. You said that yourself.”

He took another step closer and now, he was close enough that I could see the faint scar on his eyebrow. My back hit the doorframe.

“You enjoyed tonight,” he said. “Even the parts where you had to pretend to like me.”

I lifted my chin. “I enjoyed proving you wrong about my ideas. The pretending? That was work. You are not exactly easy to gaze at adoringly.”

His eyebrow rose. “Gaze adoringly? Is that what the contract requires?”

“Pretty sure it says public appearances only. No clause about me swooning in private.”

He leaned in with one hand resting on the doorframe above my shoulder. He was way too close. Dangerously close in fact.

“Good, because if you started swooning, I’d have to call the doctor. Or the press.”

I laughed despite my short and breaths. “Careful, Lucian. That almost sounded like humor. Next thing you know, people will think you have a personality.”

His eyes darkened, the gray turning stormy. “And you? Still convinced I’m the villain who locked you in a cage?”

I swallowed. My pulse was racing now, loud in my ears. “The cage is nice but you... you’re starting to confuse the hell out of me.”

“Same!” He replied flatly without blinking.

The word hung there in the “Same” One small admission that cracked the whole night open.

His gaze flicked to my mouth again, staying longer than earlier this time and I could feel myself leaning in without deciding to, drawn by the heat rolling off him, the way his breathing had changed.

His free hand came up, hovering near my cheek like he was fighting the same pull. We were inches apart now. Inches as daring as our nose were almost grazing each other. I could feel the warmth of his breath and the tiny pulse jumping at his throat. My lips parted and his head tilted just slightly.

This was stupid. It was dangerous and against every rule we had signed but God, I wanted to know what his mouth felt like when it wasn’t issuing orders.

He exhaled sharply, like he’d come to the same conclusion. His hand dropped. He pulled back half a step away.

“We can’t,” he said, voice rough. “The contract.”

I nodded, even though my body disagreed. “Right! One year, no lines crossed.”

He looked at me one last time and it felt like something raw flashed across his face before the mask slid back into place.

“Get some sleep, Sienna. Tomorrow’s board meeting won’t wait.”

He turned and walked back through the connecting door, closing it behind him with a soft click. The lock engaged from his side this time.

I stayed pressed against the frame with my heart tumbling in its place and my lips still tingling from a kiss that never happened.

This was supposed to be simple.

I was supposed to hate him, do the time and then leave but that tension just now had just made everything a thousand times more complicated and the worst part was that I was willing to risk it all for the complications.