MasukLuka's POV For a moment, just one moment, I let myself respond. My hands moved from her shoulders to her waist. My mouth captured hers in a slow but deep kiss.But then reality crashed back in.This wasn't right. She was drunk, I was sober enough to know better. She worked for me, there were power dynamics at play here that made consent murky at best. And more than any of that, this wasn't what I actually wanted.I pulled back, breaking the kiss even as she tried to follow me. "No," I stated firmly. "Cassandra, no. This isn't happening.""Why not?" she whined, hurt flickering across her flushed face. "Don't you think I'm attractive?"Shit, I shouldn't have let her drink so much champagne. I didn't know she was a lightweight."That's not the point," I replied gently but firmly, removing her arms from around my neck. "You're intoxicated, you're my employee, this would be a mistake for both of us."To my chagrin, she started giggling. "You want to do it on the floor, instead?""No, that
Luka's POV When dinner arrived, brought by room service on covered plates, the tension eased slightly. The dinner came with drinks and a bottle of champagne. Cassandra instantly went for the champagne, acting way too eager for someone who'd just come from a bar. It could just be that she had a high tolerance for alcohol. Then again, why waste good alcohol?Having something to focus on besides the awkwardness certainly helped. We ate mostly in silence at first, until Cassandra started talking about movies she'd seen recently."Have you seen that new thriller everyone's talking about?" she asked, her words slightly slurred. "The one with the unreliable narrator?""I don't get to the movies much," I admitted. "I'm usually too busy with work.""You should make time," she suggested, reaching for her champagne glass again. "All work and no play, you know the saying."I watched as she drained what had to be her fourth glass, noticing the flush spreading across her cheeks. She hadn't stoppe
Luka's POV Everything she said made sense from a logical standpoint. The bar was closing and we were stuck, the hotel was the most practical solution. But the idea of being in a hotel room alone with Cassandra while my brain kept insisting she reminded me of Isis was dangerous. I wasn't so sure about this. I wasn't sure I could trust myself."I don't know," I hedged. "Maybe we should just wait here until they kick us out, see if the rain lets up?""Do you have a family waiting at home?" Cassandra asked suddenly.The question caught me off guard. "What does that have to do with anything?"She shrugged. "I figured you were against the hotel idea because you have a wife and kids at home. And maybe not coming home tonight would make them worry."I was quiet for some moments as I thought about it. Valeria and Elliot was a good excuse to avoid this situation. But the words that came out were, "That's not the case."Which was technically true. Valeria and I barely had a relationship beyond
Luka's POV The bar Cassandra had chosen was small but nice, the kind of place where professionals went to unwind after work. I'm glad because she didn't take me to any of those pretentious fancy bars downtown. We'd grabbed a corner booth away from the main crowd, ordered drinks and settled into what should have been a simple celebration of our successful board meeting."So my younger brother," Cassandra was saying, already on her second glass of wine, "he decided it would be a great idea to surprise our mother for her birthday by repainting her entire living room without asking her what color she wanted.""Let me guess," I replied, nursing my whiskey. "She hated it?""Worse," Cassandra laughed and when she did, I looked up from my drink surprised by how sweet it sounded… like Isis. "He painted it this horrible lime green because he read somewhere that green was supposed to be calming. Our mother took one look at it, burst into tears, then made him repaint the entire thing that same d
Valeria's POV The invitation was clear. I should have said no, and thanked him for the conversation then gone home to my safe and boring life. But something in me rebelled against that idea.I was tired of being the perfect woman, the one who always did the right thing, who put everyone else's needs before her own. I was thirty years old but had only had sex once in my entire life. Could you even call it sex when Luka had been drunk out of his mind, thinking he was with someone else?I deserved better than that. I deserved to experience pleasure, to live a little and stop holding myself back from sexual experiences.Maybe it was the alcohol lowering my inhibitions. Or maybe it was the need to prove I was over Luka and that his kiss hadn't affected me all that much. Whatever the reason, I found myself nodding."Yes," I heard myself say. "Let's get out of here." He took my hand and led me through the crowd toward the exit. We didn't talk much on the way out.He hailed a cab and soon w
Valeria's POV David laughed and I found himself joining.“He sounds like a really interesting kid.” He quipped.“He is. I swear I have no idea where he got his brain from. At his age, I was still struggling to count to five hundred. I always got stuck on the digits with double nines but my sweet child has gone through several encyclopedias and thesauri. Sometimes I fear he's growing too fast and that if this keeps up, he won't be able to enjoy life.”“Uh, Valeria. Don't think like that, it makes you sound like a wet noodle.” He teased.“A wet noodle, really?” I rolled my eyes and he grinned.“Yes, it's what teens are using these days but you get the idea. It's obvious you've got a very gifted child who would be the envy of many parents. As long as you aren't the one forcing him to do it and he's enjoying himself, I say let him read all the books in the public library. If he runs out of books, just get him some more. Problem solved.”“You're right.” I sighed. “Sometimes I worry for no







