Chapter 6

Zane smoothly navigated the heavy Los Angeles traffic, pulling the massive Maybach up to the valet stand of an exclusive, hidden restaurant in Beverly Hills.

He put the car in park and casually tossed the key fob to the awestruck valet attendant without a second glance, stepping out of the vehicle.

Audrey quickly unbuckled her seatbelt. She practically jumped out of the passenger side, desperate to escape the suffocating, tension-filled air inside the car.

As she stood on the pristine curb, adjusting her oversized hoodie, Zane appeared silently beside her. His large, warm hand hovered dangerously close to the small of her back, the heat radiating through her thin clothing.

Audrey flinches away from his phantom touch. She shot him a sharp, warning look, her eyes blazing with suppressed anger.

Zane didn't back down. He just offered a polite, infuriatingly calm smile, his eyes mocking her helplessness.

Julian caught up to them, admiring the restaurant's discreet, luxurious facade. "Thanks for securing a table here on such short notice, Zane. I hear it's impossible to get in."

The maitre d', a distinguished man in a tuxedo, greeted Zane by name with deep reverence. He immediately grabbed three menus and escorted the trio past the crowded main dining room to a private, secluded, U-shaped leather booth in the back corner.

Audrey slid into the curved leather booth first. She moved all the way to the center, hoping Julian would sit next to her to act as a physical buffer against Zane.

Instead, Julian sat on the opposite side of the table, facing them. He left the empty space right next to Audrey for Zane to casually occupy.

Zane slid into the booth next to her. He didn't leave any polite distance. His long, muscular thigh pressed deliberately against hers under the table. The contact sent a violent shock of heat straight through her body.

Audrey sharply kicked his shin under the table with the toe of her sneaker. She glared at him, her eyes demanding silent distance.

Zane didn't even flinch. His expression remained perfectly pleasant and engaged as he looked at Julian. He shifted slightly, but his body heat remained overwhelmingly close, his knee still brushing against hers.

Julian opened the leather-bound menu. He immediately launched into a complex, high-level discussion with Zane about the European media market and his strategies for investment.

Audrey used the dense business talk as an excuse to completely ignore Zane. She stared blankly at her menu, her heart racing, trying to hide her severe anxiety.

The waiter arrived to take their orders. Audrey, craving sugar to cope with her spiking stress levels, quickly ordered a complex, cream-heavy strawberry dessert instead of a real meal.

Zane ordered a black coffee and a rare steak. As Audrey ordered her sweet treat, his dark eyes briefly cut sideways, lingering heavily on her soft lips.

The food arrived quickly. Julian continued to talk animatedly, slicing his chicken, discussing the broader differences between the European and American media markets and sharing some of his general business observations from London.

Audrey focused entirely on her dessert. She aggressively dug her silver spoon into the mountain of whipped cream, trying to drown her chaotic emotions in sugar.

In her nervous, frantic haste to eat and avoid eye contact, a small dollop of white whipped cream landed squarely on the corner of her lower lip.

Audrey didn't notice the cream. She continued to chew, her eyes fixed firmly on the white tablecloth to avoid Zane's intense peripheral gaze.

Zane suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. His entire focus shifted instantly from Julian's complex business plan to Audrey's cream-smudged lip.

Before Audrey could react, before she could even process the sudden silence, Zane raised his right hand. He reached slowly across the small space between them.

His rough, calloused thumb gently but firmly wiped the cream off the corner of her lip. The calloused skin dragged sensually against her soft, sensitive flesh.

Audrey froze completely. Her breath caught in her throat, choking her. Her eyes widened in absolute shock at the incredibly intimate, boundary-crossing gesture.

Julian stopped talking. He blinked in surprise at the sudden action, his fork pausing in mid-air. A slight frown of confusion formed on his forehead as he watched his friend touch his sister's face.

Zane didn't pull his hand back immediately. He casually brought his thumb to his own mouth and licked the sweet cream off his skin. His dark eyes burned into Audrey's, a deliberate, provocative display of intimacy that made her stomach clench with heat.

He turned back to Julian, his voice smooth and entirely unbothered.

"Sorry," Zane said casually, his dark eyes never leaving Audrey's flushed face. "You mentioned once during our late-night drinking sessions in London that your sister always got food on her face as a kid. It seems she hasn't changed one bit."

The smooth, effortless lie was delivered with such relaxed confidence that Julian's brief look of confusion vanished instantly. Audrey's heart, which had stopped dead in her chest at the intimate touch, started hammering wildly again. She was terrified he was about to expose their five-year history right there over lunch, but he expertly spun the narrative.

Julian stared at Zane for a second, then his face relaxed completely into a warm smile. He accepted the logical excuse without a second thought, laughing it off. "Yeah, I probably did tell you that. She used to get chocolate all over her face when we were little."

Audrey gripped her cloth napkin tightly under the table, her knuckles white. She realized Zane was playing a dangerous, terrifying game of Russian roulette with her secrets, and he was enjoying every single second of it.