"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ms. Jones," she said, before her gaze moved to Lucian. "And your guest is?"
"Lucian Dupont."
She glanced at the light screen to her left, where his name had suddenly appeared. "Would you prefer a short-term or longer-term visitor pass?"
"That very much depends," he said, a wicked gleam in his eye as he glanced at me, "on the lady standing beside me."
"Short-term," I said, trying to keep a straight face but not really succeeding. "I'm not sure if he's worth keeping just yet."
He laughed. The sound echoed around the room, warm and inviting. "Oh trust me, I do intend to prove my worth."
Harriet ordered a short-term pass, then said, "He'll have to register his print with us, as per the rules."
"No problem," Lucian said, giving her a smile with enough wattage to short-circuit half the city. "Just show me where."
Her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink and the scent of arousal swirled—the first overtly sexual reaction I'd seen out of her in all the time I'd been coming here.
She pointed to the small screen to her right. "Just place your hand here please, Mr. Dupont."
"My pleasure," he murmured, voice low and seductive.
I rolled my eyes—an action he caught, because he rewarded me with another of those high-wattage smiles. Only this time, it was accompanied by a sparkle in his eyes that somehow suggested his pleasure would soon be mine.
The scent of arousal surged, and this time it was mine.
"Thank you, Mr. Dupont," she said once his prints had been scanned and recorded, then waved an elegant hand to another door. "Now, if you'll both just go through the next door, Katie will escort you upstairs."
The door silently slid open as we approached and, beyond it, another blonde waited.