Chapter 38: Adrian's Lips

The atmosphere at the table had turned distinctly tense.

Adrian's gaze drifted lazily over Claire's composed profile, a wicked smile tugging at his mouth.

Without warning, he picked up a piece of duck breast from his own plate and set it on hers, giving her a half-smile.

"Try this. It's excellent."

His eyes lingered a beat too long on her mouth, his voice dropping into something low and deliberate.

Claire blinked, caught briefly off guard, then recovered with an easy smile.

"Thanks."

She took a bite, chewing slowly.

Genuinely good, she thought, a flicker of real appreciation crossing her face.

"Mm. That's really good."

Lucas watched the whole exchange with a face like thunder.

This was a mistake, he thought grimly. Letting Ethan bring her here was a mistake.

He knew exactly what she was capable of. Beautiful, and fully aware of it and entirely too skilled at working a room.

In the span of one dinner, she'd somehow gotten every single one of his notoriously unbothered friends acting like schoolboys.

Adrian. Felix. Neither of them fawned over anyone women fell over them, not the other way around.

Every man in this room, arrogant beyond reason, and this one woman's got them all wrapped around her finger within an hour.

Absolutely infuriating.

Watching Claire's eyes sparkle at something Adrian said, Lucas reached under the table and pinched her waist, sharp and pointed.

"Ah"

Claire flinched, brows knitting as she turned to glare at the culprit, irritation flaring in her eyes.

Sebastian, watching quietly from the side, caught the whole exchange with obvious interest, a faint, wicked amusement crossing his otherwise composed face.

Adrian, catching sight of her flustered scowl, found her only more striking for it.

Even irritated, he thought, she's stunning.

"Something wrong, Ms. Bennett?" he asked, all innocence, voice smooth as silk.

He'd clearly noticed exactly what Lucas had done under the table. He said nothing about it.

Claire, hearing that low, deliberate voice beside her, shot Lucas one more pointed look before turning her head away.

Just as she opened her mouth to respond, something brushed lightly against her lips.

Her whole body went still, a flush rushing up her neck.

Adrian's face had somehow ended up mere inches from hers and in the half-second it took her to turn her head, their mouths had grazed.

Flustered, Claire immediately leaned closer to Lucas instead, putting distance between herself and Adrian.

She barely knew the man. The moment left her genuinely thrown.

Adrian watched her reaction with clear delight, noting the flush on her cheeks before easing back, giving her space, a satisfied smirk settling on his mouth.

Lucas's brow furrowed even harder at the sight.

From his angle, he hadn't been able to tell exactly what had happened only that the two of them had been dangerously close for one very long second.

Something ugly and possessive coiled tight in his chest, and his patience finally ran out completely.

"Enjoy the rest of dinner. Claire and I have somewhere to be."

He stood, pulling her up with him without waiting for a response.

Claire's face was still burning, embarrassment lingering from the moment before.

If anything, Lucas's abrupt exit gave her an easy way out of the awkwardness. She let him lead her away from the table without protest.

Before they left, Lucas glanced around and spotted Ethan sitting off to the side, and steered Claire toward him.

Ethan sat back on the sofa, drinking alone, quiet.

The warmth that had defined his eyes earlier in the evening had cooled into something Claire didn't recognize.

He looked at her, expression carefully blank.

Distant. Almost like a stranger.

He'd watched the entire evening unfold Claire and Lucas, easy and affectionate together, right down to that brief, accidental moment with Adrian.

His eyes hadn't left her the whole time.

He'd told himself, walking into tonight, that none of it would bother him.

After their night together, he'd genuinely considered asking her to be something more than casual.

But then he'd done a little digging. And what he'd found had quietly killed that idea before it went anywhere.

Divorced. And clearly still very actively seeing multiple men since one of them his own close friend.

That wasn't something he could easily get past.

The thought of just how many men she'd been with lately sat uncomfortably in his chest.

He'd been so sure, walking in tonight, that watching her with Lucas wouldn't affect him.

So why did it feel like something was lodged in his throat right now?

He settled on indifference instead safer than admitting anything else.

Claire caught the shift in him immediately, and something in her chest tightened.

She could barely bring herself to hold his gaze.

Disappointment. Distance. Something almost like quiet disdain, buried underneath it all.

Before she could process it further, Lucas was already pulling her toward him.

"Ethan. We're heading out. Enjoy the rest of the night."

Ethan leaned back further into the sofa, swirling his glass, offering only a flat, disinterested "Sure."

Lucas said his goodbyes to the rest of the group and pulled Claire toward the exit without further delay.

Right before they left, Claire glanced back at Ethan one last time.

The complicated, distant look on his face stayed with her the entire walk out, leaving her with a tangle of feelings she couldn't quite untangle.