Page 15

“You could’ve led with that.” Ayana’s expression turned thoughtful. “Vuk Markovic as an engineer. I don’t see it.”

I ignored the thrill of hearing my name leave her lips and raised a questioning brow instead.

“It’s hard to picture you as anything other than a leader. I can’t imagine you…” she trailed off.

Can’t imagine me what?

“I can’t imagine you hunched over in a cubicle, developing manufacturing processes. That’s all,” she finally said. There was an odd hitch in her voice. Embarrassed, maybe, but also a little breathless.

What can you imagine me doing?

On the surface, it was an innocent question, but my hand movements were deliberate, almost lazy. They dared her to answer.

I was treading a dangerous path.

Here, in this room, with nothing except a small table separating us…it would be so easy.

She was so close I could reach over and slide that robe down her shoulders. Run my hands over her skin and see if it was as soft as it looked. Slide my tongue into her mouth and see if she tasted as sweet as I imagined.

The silence stretched.

Ayana’s lips parted. There was no question she’d picked up on the subtle suggestiveness of my question—her eyes were wide, and I could see the wild flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat.

I expected her to walk away and end this charade once and for all. Women like her would never be attracted to monsters like me.

But she didn’t.

She stayed seated, and she looked at me…she looked at me in a way she had no right to when she was wearing another man’s ring—with awareness bordering on heat.

My blood burned hotter for an entirely different reason.

Thatfuckingring.

The diamond glittered in my peripheral vision and tossed a bucket of ice water over the moment.

She was engaged. I was the best man. And though I’d crossed many lines and twisted many morals in my life, loyalty was the one value I held fast to.

I stood abruptly, severing eye contact.

Ayana startled. “I?—”

I didn’t wait for her to finish.

I crossed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. My pulse rattled alongside the walls.

I was rock-hard, but I didn’t touch my engorged cock.

Instead, I cranked the water as cold as it would go and let the icy drops pelt my body.

Self-inflicted punishment, perhaps, or simply masochism, just like my inability to stay away from the woman in the other room.

I rested my forehead against the tile wall and released a long, controlled breath.

It didn’t help.

My mind still buzzed from whatever the hell happened out there. I was wound so tight, one more word from her would’ve made me snap.

If she were engaged to anyone except Jordan, I might’ve let it happen, consequences be damned.