CHAPTER 2: Uninvited
329 Words
Lena felt him long before she saw him again.
It was strange.
Unsettling.
Like a shift in the air—subtle, but undeniable.
She tried to ignore it, focusing instead on the conversation in front of her, but her attention kept slipping.
Drifting.
Back to him.
Back to the way his voice had lowered when he spoke.
Back to the way he looked at her… like he was already figuring her out.
She exhaled slowly.
Get a grip.
He was just a man.
A powerful one, yes—but still just a man.
So why did it feel like something had changed?
“Looking for someone?”
The voice came from behind her.
Low.
Controlled.
Too familiar.
Her body reacted before her mind did—shoulders tensing, breath catching slightly as she turned.
Adrian.
Of course.
“I didn’t hear you walk up,” she said.
“I know.”
Something about the way he said it made her pulse quicken.
Like it wasn’t an accident.
Like nothing about him was.
“You’re not easy to find in a room like this,” he added.
Her brows lifted slightly. “I wasn’t aware anyone was looking.”
“I was.”
The honesty of it—so direct, so unfiltered—threw her off balance.
He stepped closer again.
Closer than necessary.
Closer than appropriate.
And this time… she noticed.
Not just his presence, but the heat of it.
The way it pressed against her senses.
“You don’t belong here,” he said quietly.
Her lips parted. “Excuse me?”
“Not like them,” he clarified, eyes scanning her face slowly, deliberately. “You’re not pretending.”
There was something in his gaze now—something heavier.
More focused.
It made her chest tighten.
“And that bothers you?” she asked.
“It interests me.”
Her heartbeat quickened.
She should step back.
Create distance.
But she didn’t.
And that… that was her first mistake
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