Lucien nodded and dutifully pulled out a chair for Alex.
“Thank you,” she murmured as she took her seat. Due to the placement of the chairs, they were a little apart from the rest of her family, though still fully visible to the entire theater.
Because you also have a show to put on.
Alex bit back a sigh and glanced over at Lucien. He was watching her closely, his expression unreadable. She managed a tight smile, but he did not return it before the lights went out.
Twenty
Alex looked absolutely gorgeous in a deep purple gown that perfectly complemented her creamy skin and dark hair. As Lucien took the seat beside her, he caught a whiff of flowery perfume. It was lovely, but he found he preferred her usual scent of ink and paper. Only then did it dawn on him that he hadn’t searched the box for Freddie at all. He had seen only Alex.
As the curtain lifted and the play began, Lucien tried his best to focus on the actors onstage, but he kept snatching glances at her profile every few minutes. The delicate slope of her nose, the soft curve of her cheek, the perfectly pointed chin. How had he ever not thought this woman beautiful?
“I take it your meeting with Benjamin went well,” she finally murmured without looking at him.
“Why do you say that?”
She was silent for a long moment. “Because I haven’t heard from you.”
“I’m sorry. I should have sent a response. Thank you. Your notes were very helpful.”
“I’m glad,” she replied, sounding anything but. “And congratulations. I’m sure your partnership will be very fruitful.”
“I didn’t—”
“There’s no need to be coy, Lucien,” she insisted. “You’ve made a good decision.”
“Is that why you looked so surprised when I arrived? You thought I wouldn’t come tonight if I partnered with him?” He frowned at the implication. “But we have an agreement.”
She lifted a shoulder in response. “Things can change. I understand that.”
A few days before, he would have assumed she was indifferent, but now Lucien knew better. She hid so much beneath that cool mask, and he was determined to see it all. He leaned as close to her as he dared, until he could feel the soft warmth coming off her skin. “I assure you, I always honor my agreements,” he murmured by her ear. She responded with only the slightest inhalation, but it still made the blood rush to his cock. If this woman ever truly fell apart before him, Lucien wasn’t certain he would survive the experience.
He attempted to return his attention to the play for a while, but gave up once again. “Tell me what happened between you two.”
She turned to him then and the hesitancy in her eyes was answer enough.
“That bastard,” he growled.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she murmured. “But it wasn’t like that.”
Lucien shifted in his seat. The sound of her hushed voice only made him grow harder. It was damned inconvenient, as this was a serious conversation. To say nothing of their surroundings.
“Then tell me what itwaslike.”
Alex leaned forward to cast a subtle glance past him. “Not here.”
As her shoulder brushed his own, a shiver of need ripped through him.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” he huffed and dragged a hand down his face.
She peered at him in concern. “There’s a washroom just outside, if you need to be sick.”
“I’m notill, Alex,” he said with a humorless laugh. “It’s you.”
“Oh.”
