Burning For A Stranger

Chapter Ten: Crossing Lines

(Dominic's POV )

She thought she could hide from me.

Walking into that boardroom, pretending like she didn’t know me, like we hadn’t set each other on fire just nights ago Elena Cruz had no idea who she was dealing with.

She froze when I said her name. I saw the flicker in her eyes, the pulse at her throat. She could fool everyone else in that room, but not me.

I waited. Let her squirm under the weight of my silence until the meeting wrapped. And the second Victor dismissed the team, I was on my feet.

“Elena.”

Her name cracked across the space like a whip. She turned, spine stiff, voice sugar-coated for the benefit of the assistants filing out. “Mr. Vale.”

Mr. Vale.

She wanted to play professionally? Fine. I’d play along until the doors closed and we were alone.

Which is exactly what I arranged.

I crossed the room in a few strides, ignoring Victor’s grin and half-hearted small talk. My eyes never left her. She tried to slip toward the exit, but I blocked her, one hand pressing the door shut before she could open it.

Her chin lifted, defiance flashing in her warm brown eyes. God, she was infuriating. And intoxicating.

“You left.” My voice was low, sharp. “No note. No number. Not even a name.”

“That was the point, wasn’t it?” she shot back. “One night. No strings.”

I leaned in, close enough to breathe her in, that same maddening scent of honey and danger. “And yet here you are. Sitting in my boardroom. Working for Lang.”

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. I watched her throat bob, the way her fingers clenched tight around her notebook.

“You think you can just vanish and waltz back into my world like it meant nothing?” I murmured. “You’re wrong, Elena.”

“I don’t owe you anything,” she hissed, though her voice trembled.

I smiled slowly, dangerously. “Maybe not. But you owe yourself the truth. That night wasn’t nothing. And you damn well know it.”

The air between us crackled, heavy with everything unsaid. She held my stare, but her breath quickened, betraying her.

I lowered my voice to a near whisper, my lips grazing the shell of her ear. “You’re mine, Elena. Whether you admit it or not.”

When I pulled back, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes blazing with a mix of fury and want.

She slipped past me finally, her heels clicking like gunshots down the hall.

I let her go. For now.

Because this wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.