Page 90 of The Owner's Temptation

Then he circles.

Slow. Measured. Predatory.

Every step feels like it echoes inside me. He’s not just walking—he’sstalking, and I’m his prey. The heat I was riding so confidently moments ago is already shifting—turning molten, disorienting.

“So,” he says finally, voice smooth as his espresso, “care to explain your little outburst?”

I try to roll my eyes. Try to summon the fire I felt just minutes ago.

But my mouth is dry. My heart won’t stop thudding.

I swallow, forcing the words past lips that suddenly don’t feel so smug. “It was... ridiculous. The flirting. The questions. I just—someone had to say something.”

He hums low, like he's considering that answer. He’s standing behind me now—I can feel him, close enough that the heat of his body kisses my spine.

“And of course,” he murmurs, “thatsomeonehad to be you.”

I don’t answer.

Because yes. It did.

Because I wanted to get under his skin.

I wanted him to lose control.

And now that he’s not? It’s somehowso much worse.

I hear the rustle of his jacket as he steps closer, feel the shift in the air as he lowers his voice to a deadly whisper.

“You’ve been pushing me all week, Sienna.”

My breath hitches.

“And now that you’ve woken the devil,” he continues, “what exactly do you plan to do with him?”

I don’t know.

God help me, Idon’tknow.

But I sure as hell can’t back down now.

I lift my chin, even though my voice isn’t nearly as steady as I want it to be. “I’m not afraid of you.”

He doesn’t laugh.

He doesn’t move.

He just speaks—low, lethal, final.

“Let’s see if that’s true.”

Lucian slips off his jacket with a fluid motion, the expensive fabric whispering against itself as he hangs it neatly on the coat rack in the corner of his office.

“Hands on the desk.”

“You can’t be serious.” My voice is breathless. Barely a whisper.

But he is.

---