Page 10 of A Love So Deadly
He’s not any kind of monster except perhaps the human kind. The real kind. His gaze slides over me, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly, as though he can read my thoughts.
Obviously, he can’t. No one can do that. But he might be able to read my face, so I keep it as benign as possible.
I need to be sweetness, light, someone who seems harmless. I gather myself, focus on my mission, and force a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet the face behind VMR.”
“You’re not what I expected,” he says.
A number of responses come to mind, and I can’t think of any that aren’t rippling with strong undercurrents. “Not a man?”
His dark gaze shifts over me, and again, I’m hit with the feeling he sees more than he should, like he can dip into the essence of me behind my surface, like he can taste my blood.
I shudder inwardly. I’ve seen dangerous people. Goodlooking people. He trails dangerous like scent and it’s most devasting I bet, when someone’s close to him, like I am. Combine that air with his dark hair, darker eyes and sensuous mouth, the cheekbones that need to grace a black and white magazine cover somewhere, and you’ve bottled this man.
Except I don’t think you have.
He’s that, and yet so much more.
Lucian Vale. Why haven’t I heard the name? Why haven’t I seen a million pictures of him? Does he have a team scrubbing the world clean of his presence on and in anything?
I make an immediate note to look him up and research him when I get home.
He hasn’t answered my question. I went with the most obvious because it’s a mistake I expect someone who gives off Lucian Vale’s timeless air to make. Only he didn’t. That was me. All me.
I’m right about one thing, though. He is timeless. Like part yesteryear and part now in a classic way. Maybe he’s just classic and rich.
But that’s boring and wrong, and I don’t think Lucian Vale’s boring.
Ever.
There are hidden depths behind the mask.
And again, the word timeless comes back to my head.
Timeless. Or old fashioned.
“Gender is immaterial.”
Normally I’d speak here, fill the space he leaves, but I don’t. There’s no invitation from him.
He’s a man who takes his time.
Confident. Settled. Controlled.
Timeless.
There’s that fucking word again. Timeless.
“You found all my ads.” His gaze shifts to my throat, and it makes my pulse flutter and pound. Almost like that artery is being licked, kissed. Sucked. “And even though you’re not remotely qualified, you applied to each of them and numbered them. Impressive.”
Lucian’s voice is rich like thick silk, flowing and warm, with something dark and delicious. Something dangerous.
With a dark, sharp edge.
That air of power, tightly leashed control about him, isn’t like any power I’ve seen. This isn’t the power of a CEO. It’s old, and otherworldly and if he turned it on me, I’d be dust.
Lucian Vale turns from me, breaking the spell, letting me breathe, and crosses the room. He pours a drink, then holds it out to me.
I’d be dust? What the…? I focus on the drink because the million questions and dissection can wait until I’m out of here. Until I get the job…
