Chapter 19~ You Smell Nice

Nina rubbed her forehead where she had just collided with the very solid… thing in front of her.

"Ow…"

She blinked, still half-drowsy, her vision swimming with sleep.

Then slowly lifted her head.

Her mouth fell open.

For a moment she genuinely wondered, had she wandered into some bizarre dream? The kind where logic dissolved and reality bent at impossible angles?

Did an angel just descend into my apartment?

Because the "wall" she had just walked into most definitely was not a wall.

It was a man. And not just any man. Standing directly in front of her was Lucas Grant.

Except, he was shirtless.

Nina's brain promptly stopped functioning. Every coherent thought scattered like startled birds, leaving behind only a stunned, humming blankness.

Her eyes moved… entirely against her will, downward.

Broad shoulders that seemed to fill her entire field of vision. Defined arms that suggested hours spent doing… whatever it was that created arms like that.

A chest that looked like it had been sculpted by someone with an unreasonable obsession for perfection. Each muscle carved with deliberate precision, the kind of physique that belonged on magazine covers, not in her cramped apartment hallway at whatever ungodly hour this was.

And then… Abs. Perfect, sharply defined abs that cast subtle shadows in the dim morning light.

Her hands twitched at her sides, fingers curling involuntarily.

Do not touch him.

Do not touch him.

Do NOT—

She almost shrieked like an excited schoolgirl discovering her celebrity crush had materialized in her living room.

Her fingers itched with the absurd, overwhelming urge to poke one of those muscles just to confirm they were real… that this wasn't some sleep-deprived hallucination conjured by her exhausted mind.

Heat crept up her neck. Her pulse hammered in her ears. Her gaze traveled upward… slowly, deliberately, tracing the path back to his face.

When she finally met his eyes, her breath caught.

Lucas stood there with unnerving calm, watching her with those dark, steady eyes that seemed to miss nothing. The corner of his mouth quirked almost imperceptibly, as if he knew exactly what effect he was having on her.

He held a bottle of water in one hand, condensation beading on its surface. Without breaking eye contact, he lifted it to his lips and took a slow, measured drink. The movement was casual, unhurried… maddeningly deliberate.

Nina's eyes followed the motion of his throat as he swallowed, mesmerized despite herself. Her mouth had gone dry, her thoughts scattering like leaves in a storm.

For some inexplicable reason, she swallowed too.

Air. Just air.

Her heart hammered against her ribs as though trying to escape.

Lucas set the bottle down on the nearest counter with a soft clink that seemed unnaturally loud in the charged silence between them.

Then he took a step forward.

Nina immediately stepped back, her body moving on instinct. "What are you doing, Mr. Grant?" The words came out slightly higher than usual, betraying the nervous energy coursing through her.

"Stay there," she added, holding up one hand as if that flimsy barrier could stop him.

Lucas ignored her completely.

He stepped closer again, his expression unreadable but intent.

Nina backed up again, her pulse racing. "What are you doing?!" The question emerged more forcefully this time, though she heard the tremor beneath her attempted authority.

Another step from him. Another retreat from her. The dance continued until her shoulders hit the wall behind her with a soft thud.

Nowhere left to go. Trapped.

This is bad, she thought wildly, her mind finally catching up to the situation.

Very, very bad.

Lucas stopped directly in front of her, close enough that she could feel the faint warmth radiating from his skin. The space between them seemed to shrink the air itself.

He tilted his head slightly, studying her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher.

"Look at me," he said.

Nina did… for about half a second. Then her gaze immediately dropped again, fixing on some indeterminate point near his collar. His eyes were too intense, too knowing. They felt like they were reading straight through her, peeling back every carefully constructed layer of professionalism she'd wrapped around herself.

Lucas reached out and gently lifted her chin, his fingers warm against her skin. He held it in place with just enough pressure to make his intention clear. Now she had no choice but to meet his gaze, to let him see the flush creeping up her neck, the slight tremor in her breath.

His voice remained calm, almost amused, as though he were discussing something as mundane as the weather. "Ms. Hale."

Her heart pounded so loudly she was certain he could hear it. "Yes?"

"This is the second time today I've caught you studying my body." He paused, letting the words settle between them like stones dropped into still water.

Her brain froze, every possible response scattering like startled birds.

Lucas continued evenly, a hint of something dangerous flickering in his expression. "Do you really like it that much?"

Nina opened her mouth, then closed it. She tried again, but no words emerged. Her jaw worked uselessly, making her resemble a fish gasping for oxygen on dry land.

What could she possibly say? He wasn't wrong, she had been staring. And oh boy, was she staring… hard.

"Well… who wouldn't?" she finally muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. Heat crept up her neck as she gestured vaguely at his torso, her hand trembling slightly. "It's… kind of unfair."

Lucas's eyebrow lifted. "Unfair?"

"Yes!" The word burst out more forcefully than she intended. She waved her hand helplessly, as if the gesture might somehow explain what her words couldn't. "You look like someone sculpted you out of marble! Like some Renaissance masterpiece that shouldn't exist outside a museum."

Her cheeks burned hotter with each word, but she couldn't seem to stop herself from digging the hole deeper.

Lucas studied her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. The silence stretched between them, taut as a wire. Then something shifted in his eyes… a glint of mischief, perhaps, or challenge.

"In that case…" he said quietly, his voice dropping to a lower register that sent an involuntary shiver down her spine.

His gaze moved slowly, deliberately, from her face downward. Over her shoulders, lingering at her waist, then traveling back up again with the same unhurried intensity. Nina felt each second of his scrutiny like a physical touch, her skin prickling with awareness.

"You wouldn't mind if I returned the favor," he murmured, the statement somehow both a question and a declaration.

Nina squeaked, her voice catching in her throat.

"Of course I would!" The words tumbled out defensively, but Lucas was already observing her with calm curiosity.

Not in a crude way, nothing like that. He simply studied her as though she were a puzzle he needed to solve, analyzing something that had captured his interest.

His eyes paused briefly on her waist, and she felt her breath hitch before his gaze returned to her face. The intensity in his expression made her pulse quicken.

Then he narrowed his eyes slightly, and she watched something shift in his features… recognition, perhaps, or confusion.

He lifted her chin again, his touch surprisingly gentle, and tilted her head to the side. The gesture felt intimate, almost tender, despite the clinical way he examined her profile.

A thoughtful expression crossed his face, his brow furrowing ever so slightly.

For some reason he couldn't explain, something about her felt... off. No, not off, just familiar. Like a melody he'd heard before but couldn't quite place.

He studied her carefully, searching for whatever it was that nagged at the edges of his memory.

"Ms. Hale," he said finally, his voice measured.

"Yes?" Her heart hammered against her ribs.

"Have we met before?"

Her eyes widened immediately, panic flashing across her features before she could mask it. "Of course not!" The denial came too quickly, too forcefully. She shook her head, perhaps a bit too vigorously. "Where would we have met?"

She laughed awkwardly, the sound brittle and unconvincing even to her own ears. "I mean... you're Lucas Grant." She gestured vaguely, as if his very existence proved her point. "There's no way someone like me would've met someone like you." The words carried a hint of self-deprecation that she hadn't intended, revealing more vulnerability than she'd meant to show.

Lucas didn't answer immediately. He simply watched her, his gaze steady and searching, as though trying to solve a puzzle whose pieces kept shifting just out of reach. There was something about her presence… something familiar yet elusive that tugged at the edges of his memory like a half-remembered dream.

Nina shifted under his scrutiny, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. The silence stretched between them, growing heavier with each passing second. Finally, she gave a small shrug, attempting to appear casual despite the tension coiling in her shoulders.

"I get that sometimes," she said, her voice carefully measured. "Apparently I have one of those faces."

She smiled lightly, though the expression didn't quite reach her eyes. "But no... we haven't met before. I would remember."

The last words slipped out before she could stop them, carrying more weight than she'd intended. She bit her lip, immediately regretting the admission.

Lucas remained silent for another moment, his expression unreadable. Then he leaned back slightly, the movement almost imperceptible, as if creating physical distance might help him think more clearly. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, almost contemplative.

"You smell nice."