جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 50

CORINNE Lucian handed the twins to the driver, making sure they were buckled in safely before turning his full attention to Charles and I.He was all dark edges and brooding energy, and the way his eyes remained locked on me made my skin crawl. It was a look of pure accusation, as if he’d just caught me committing a felony in broad daylight.I squared my shoulders, trying to diffuse the suffocating tension. “I don’t think you two have met before,” I began, looking between them.Before I could go any further, Charles stepped forward with that infuriatingly charming smile and extended a hand toward Lucian. “Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Delacroix. I’m Charles. My daughter’s in the same class as your boys.”Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets on what Lucian did next.The absolute bastard just shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, staring at Charles’s outstretched palm with the same interest he would give a piece of gum on his shoe. He didn’t even acknowledge the gesture as he turne

LUCIANIt’s Saturday morning, and I’ve locked myself inside my home office under the pretense of work. Financial reports are spread across my desk, numbers lining up exactly where I want them, except my head isn’t here at all.It’s stuck on the sound of laughter drifting faintly through the hallway. Corinne’s voice and unguarded laughter rises above the boys’ as they ran around the house.The last few days have been… different. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re friends, but ever since she teamed up with my sons to turn my body into a coloring book with those markers, the edge has softened. We can actually talk for more than five minutes now without her looking like she wants to stab me with a fork.Of course she ran her mouth once or twice since then. First about having a chauffeur and a security detail following her around, and second about me still not willing to be buddy-buddy with fucking Charles.It’s ridiculous. Does she really not see it? Or is she just pretending to be that

CORINNEI leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the Uber window, my mind a screaming mess of regret.Fuck my mouth.Honestly, just... fuck my motherfucking mouth.I still can’t believe I’d salivated at the sight of those graphs like a starving person at a buffet. One look at a struggling data and I’d just started rambling business strategy to Lucian like I was back in a boardroom in Chicago.I didn’t think for a second he believed my “roommate in college” excuse. Hell, I wouldn’t believe it myself if I were in his shoes. The look he had on his face told me he was already tearing my story apart piece by piece and at this point I’m just hoping Maya gets something before he confronts me.Trying to avoid him all day had been a nightmare. I spent the afternoon in a total frenzy, my heart jumping every time a door opened, my nerves fried from the effort of pretending I wasn’t hiding. By the time dinner rolled around, I was vibrating with a restless energy that I needed to get out of

CORINNE“Get on your knees.”The command dropped like my high school grade. ‘No.’ My mind hissed, because there’s no way I’d willingly do something Lucian ask of me without a fight. But my body was already betraying me.I’ll regret this. I’ll wake up tomorrow and want to scream myself to an early grave, but right now? I’ll put the blame for this wanton behavior on the single shot of tequila still burning in my veins, and on the agonizing amount of horniness riding through my body.Fuck… I shouldn’t.I know I shouldn’t, but the floor met my knees with a mocking sound.Suddenly, I’m eye-level with the unmistakable tent in his trousers. My mouth went drier than a desert and it took every ounce of my fading sanity to swallow and not pounce on him.I craned my neck back to look at him only to find him already staring down at me, his dark eyes raking over my face with a hunger that looked a lot like anger.“Tell me,” he said in a voice pitched low and rough that made my core pulse. “What do

CORINNEI’ve had years to perfect the art of avoidance, so sidestepping Lucian yesterday and again this morning was effortlessly a piece of cake.Do I regret what went down that night? Fuck no. Not even a little.It’s been far too long since I let myself crave pleasure, let alone actually give in to it, and I wasn’t about to beat myself up for finally indulging.Hands down, it was one of the most noteworthy experiences of my life. But here’s the thing—I don’t care about Lucian enough for his cold exit to gut me afterward. Not really. If he’d mistakenly offered a glass of wine and a deep conversation after that, I would’ve kneed him in the balls.We’re both adults. Adults who know exactly what they want, and most importantly, we’ve already established the fact that we hate each other’s guts with a burning passion.So yeah, avoiding him wasn’t cowardice. It was about sidestepping the suffocating awkwardness of a ‘morning after’ that clearly shouldn’t have happened. And I was secretly rel