Chapter 9: Love Them and Leave Them

And of all the places for this to happen her actual workplace, in a room full of executives.

Worse still: he was her boss.

While Claire was still spiraling internally, the meeting had already begun without her.

She forced her focus back to the room, listening as the executives ran through their proposals for the new project.

Lucas sat at the head of the table, taking in every pitch with sharp, unreadable attention.

Claire sat toward the far end, close enough to study his face without being obvious about it.

His features were striking in the daylight clean lines, thick brows, a straight nose, that same sharp mouth. His eyes carried the same cold, unreadable intensity she remembered from the night before, the kind of face that made it hard to look away once you'd started.

She thought back to how reckless she'd been in front of that same face less than twelve hours ago.

Every time his gaze passed near her, it felt like a live current running straight through her nerves, her whole body responding before her mind caught up.

Heat crept into her cheeks without permission, her pulse refusing to settle.

The meeting itself went smoothly enough.

The executives laid out their plans; Lucas clearly had a firm grasp on every detail, cutting through weak points with pointed, exacting questions.

Claire kept pace, taking careful notes, absorbing the discussion even as her attention kept drifting just briefly, just once in a while toward the man at the head of the table.

He sat with effortless composure, twirling a fountain pen between his fingers, looking every bit as commanding as he did unbothered.

Claire kept her eyes on her notes, stealing only the occasional glance his way, each one quick enough to pass for accidental.

The meeting ran a little over an hour.

Afterward, the executives began filing out one by one.

Claire rose to follow, gathering her things.

But Lucas's gaze had already landed on her steady, unhurried, laced with something close to amusement.

She looked up and met it head-on.

His mouth curved into a half-smile, his eyes dark enough to pull her straight in, the whole room seeming to narrow down to just the two of them.

Claire froze where she stood, caught completely in that look.

Her heart stumbled, her breath came quicker, and that same electric current from earlier surged through her all over again.

It was strong enough to make her knees genuinely unsteady. Every instinct told her to look away, to get out of the room.

She tried to break his gaze. She couldn't manage it.

He crossed the room toward her, his height and presence closing off her escape entirely, blocking the door behind him like he'd planned it that way.

"You slept with me, baby, and now you're just going to disappear?"

"What hit and run, is that the plan?"

He'd stepped in close enough that his voice dropped low, rough, unbearably deliberate.

The scent of that custom cologne hit her instantly, and heat bloomed across her cheeks.

Caught in the depth of his stare, she felt herself pulled under, like the floor had tilted beneath her.

Her pulse spiked, warmth flooding through her, her hands trembling faintly at her sides.

She hadn't planned on ever seeing him again certainly not like this.

Before she could figure out how to respond, his hand came up, tilting her chin firmly toward him.

Then his mouth was on hers warm, certain, impossible to think past.

That same overwhelming scent surrounded her, his breath carrying something warm and unmistakably him.

She resisted for exactly a heartbeat before giving in completely, the two of them tangled together in the empty conference room, all restraint forgotten.