Page 110 of Boardroom Sins

“She must have loved it.”

I don’t answer. I can’t.

Because yes, Elena loved it. Just like Rae, she loved the croissants and the cobblestones and the smell of grapes ripening in the sun. She loved this village. Most of all, she loved the man I became when I was here.

And then I killed her anyway.

37

LUKAS

MIEL DE LAVANDE

Net: 250g | Lot: 0119

Ingrédients: Honey (100%)

AVIS: Glass jar. Handle with care. If dropped, contents cannot be recovered.

When the day is done, we return to the chateau. A brown paper bag swings between us, filled with all the little things Rae begged to acquire throughout the afternoon of wandering. She has crumbs on her chin and a flush on her cheeks from the wine and cheese we shared at a small café near the square.

She’s been contemplative and quiet for the last few minutes, though. I can see her turning something over in her mind, but I don’t press.

We reach the front door. I push it open and step aside to let her pass.

Instead, she stops in the doorway, turns to face me, and rises up on her toes.

Her lips brush my cheek. It’s soft and brief, but I’ve been tortured with car batteries that were more subtle. Bolts of current surge through me, momentary electrical agony.

“Thank you,” she tells me. Her breath is warm against my mouth. “It was the nicest day I’ve had in a long time.”

Her lips are soft, like flower petals. Stupid fucking petals.

The sane choice here is to step back. It’s the only choice, really. Or at least, it’s the only one that doesn’t end with her broken on the stones of this fucking chateau floor.

But I don’t move an inch.

I blame that goddamn dress. Elena’s dress. It brushes my arm. The same thin cotton, the same faded blue flowers on the hem. Rae’s scent dances underneath it, different than Elena’s, sweeter, fresher. Less like smoke and secrets, more like… sunshine.

Fuckingsunshine.

Heat is mounting low in my gut. A familiar, dangerous furnace stoking itself. My hand twitches at my side, wanting to grab her, crush her against the doorframe, and taste if that sunshine is real or just another trick.

Her eyes are watching mine. Wide, brown, trusting. Foolish girl. Doesn’t she know what happens to things I find interesting? Doesn’t she know I collect them until they shatter?

Push her away.The command reverberates uselessly in the hollow space where my control used to live.Do it. Do it now.

But her lips are still there, waiting. An invitation to ruin. An invitation I’m too fucking weak to refuse.

So I yield to it.

My hands find Rae’s waist and I push her back against the doorframe. The bag hits the ground and a jar of honey goes rolling out, but neither of us cares.

Rae’s startled gasp dies against my mouth as I kiss her. Not soft this time. Not brief. I kiss her like I’ve been starving for eighteen years and she’s the first meal I’ve seen.

Her fingers curl into my shirt. She pulls me closer instead of pushing me away. That’s all the permission I need.

I deepen the kiss. My tongue sweeps against hers and she makes a sound, a small whimper that goes straight to my cock. Her back arches off the wood. Her hips press forward, seeking friction.