Cassian silently observed Cixi’s back as she stood there with phone pressed to her ear, and her voice trembled despite her efforts to stay steady. From where he sat, he could still smell her arousal. He could still taste her.

Slowly, he lifted his fingers, brushing them over his lower lip. A soft hiss escaped his teeth. The little vixen had bitten him in the same spot as the day before. A fearful kitten trying to play the part of a tigress.

Though his gaze darkened, his expression remained composed as he listened to her conversation unfold. "I found someone who can help us," Officer Bill said on the phone.

Knowing what Bill was about to say, Cixi interrupted him. "Can I call you back later? I am out and busy," she snapped.

There was a brief pause on the other end. "Oh!" Bill’s voice took on a sheepish tone. "Sure, sure. Enjoy yourself!" He then disconnected the call.

As the connection dropped, silence fell over the room, which felt more intense and thicker than before.

Cixi stayed with her back to Cassian, fingers gripping the phone so tightly her knuckles began to blanch. Her purse slipped from her grasp and hit the floor, but she hardly noticed. She clutched the phone as if it were the only thing keeping her steady.

Behind her, Cassian rose from his seat. His shoes made a soft sound against the floor, causing her breath to hitch.

He didn’t rush as he approached her with deliberate steps, making Cixi painfully aware of what had just happened moments earlier.... His mouth on hers, his hands mapping her body, and the way her body had melted against him with alarming ease.

Her heart, having never fully calmed, began to race all over again. She took a deeper breath, her chest rising and falling too quickly and too visibly.

Heat rushed back into her cheeks before she could rein it in. She wanted to turn around, to say something — anything to break this unbearable silence. But her courage faltered.

Cassian came to a stop just behind her, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body, intensifying every nerve in her skin. Then he spoke in a low and steady voice. "You failed."

Her eyes widened, and she spun to face him to find he was closer than she had anticipated. He was close enough to make every sensation rush back. The imprint of his lips, the strength of his hands, how he had taken control when she thought she was in charge.

Her cheeks flared hotter, yet she opened her mouth. "W-What do you mean?"

For a split second, she feared he was about to tell her he wouldn’t sign the contract. Cassian looked down at her, maintaining his infuriating calmness. "I told you to make me take you to bed." His gaze flicked to the phone still clutched in her hand. "And yet you thought answering a call from someone else was more important."

Cixi stared at him, frozen for a moment.

She didn’t even know why she had picked up the call... maybe panic, maybe fear of how easily he had kissed her. Not because she wanted him to stop, but because she hadn’t trusted herself to go further if the interruption hadn’t happened. And she didn’t trust him either. This was just a kissing contract and nothing more.

Marion’s words echoed in her mind once more – Do not give in too easily. She wasn’t ready to have sex with him. Wait, why did that thought creep into her head? Why had her mind jumped there so quickly?

She scolded herself inwardly for such a foolish thought.

Steeling herself, she lifted her chin and said, "But you kissed me back. Doesn’t that count? I am sure if we had kept going, we would have been in... in your bedroom right now." As she spoke, she unconsciously crossed her arms over herself in a defensive move she didn’t realise she had made.

Cassian noticed, of course. His eyes flickered over her closed-off stance and the way she shielded herself while trying to sound bold. "First," he said smoothly enough to make her uneasy, "I couldn’t let your lousy attempt to drag on forever."

Cixi glared at him immediately. "Lousy?"

"Very," he replied, looking unfazed.

His response struck her pride like a gust of wind.

"Second," he continued, ignoring her outrage, "I was trying to be a gentleman so you wouldn’t lose motivation when you tried next time."

Her mouth dropped open. She could still feel the sting of her swollen lips, the heat he had left behind, and this devil was calling himself a gentleman.

"Third..." Cassian gestured around the room. "Why would you think I would take you to bed when I don’t even have a bedroom here?"

Cixi blinked, truly looking around for the first time since entering. The room was exactly as he had said: no second door.

And he had not merely guessed where her thoughts had gone, but had also dragged them into the open and laid them bare between them.

"You are impossible," she muttered. "No! You are a Machiavellian!"

"No." His gaze dipped briefly to her mouth before rising to meet her eyes again. "You are predictable! And coming to me with your naivety.... What did you think? That I would sign it just because you asked me arrogantly nicely?"

Cixi couldn’t believe he was the same man who had once devoured her moments ago. At least, that’s how she had felt in the moment, but now, doubt crept in. Did he truly not feel anything at all? Was she the only one caught in this whirlwind of emotions? She was confused and couldn’t tell if Cassian was telling the truth or was gaslighting her.

She regretted not having more experience with men now, but part of her was thankful it had saved her from potential disaster. Yet who could have predicted that a storm named Cassian was waiting on the horizon, promising not just chaos but an overwhelming passion that might drown her?

That stung more than it should have.

She wanted to defend herself, to conjure something clever enough to reclaim the ground she had lost. "What I know is that you take pleasure in exploiting the naive. That’s hardly a gentlemanly trait! And you are not," Cixi interjected, raising one hand and bringing her fingers close together to emphasise the gap between them, "this close to it. You are the true devil, expertly playing with people’s emotions and lives."

Cassian took one more small step closer. Now there was hardly any space left between them at all. "Yes," he said simply. The honesty of it stole the next reply from her. His gaze held hers with merciless patience. "You came here with a contract claiming you fell for me," he continued. "You climbed into my lap. You kissed me with all the courage of someone who had prepared for battle and realised halfway through she had brought the wrong weapon. And now you are complaining?!"

Cixi’s pride smarted, but she forced herself not to look away. And yes, for a moment she had forgotten that she had declared to him that she liked him. "I still made you react." She tried to change the topic.

A slow smile touched his lips at that. "You did... a little!"

"A little?" That reaction she had elicited from Cassian was considered ’little’?

Confusion clouded her expression as she tried to comprehend what he meant. If that was just a little, what could possibly be more? Did she really want to find out?

Cassian lowered his voice slightly, and somehow that made every word feel more dangerous. "You made me react, little lamb. But making me react and making me take you to bed are two very different things."

The room felt warmer now. Or perhaps it was only her.

She swallowed. "So what now? Won’t you be signing it?"

His eyes moved over her face, her hair loosened around her shoulders, the phone still trapped in her hand like a shield. His fingers tingled to touch her soft hair, but he held himself back. "Now?" he repeated. "Now you decide whether you want to keep embarrassing yourself... or whether you want to give up." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Her heart gave an uneven thud.

Cixi narrowed her eyes at him. "It wasn’t that bad as you say it, you scoundrel! And I won’t give up! I will try once more. But that won’t be here! I will make you take me to bed." In her head, those words sounded better than the way they came out.

Cassian’s gaze settled on her lips once more. "Careful, Little Lamb! I might stop being a gentleman."

Her breath caught again, and she hated that he could hear it happen.

For a long second, they simply stood there, staring at one another, the contract forgotten on the table, the dropped purse at her feet, the silence between them now filled with unspoken danger greater than before.

To fill the silence, Cixi scoffed, rolling her eyes. He still considered himself a gentleman. How delusional of him! ’Gentlemen, my foot!’

She lifted her chin, despite the frantic beating of her heart. "You really are shameless."