his tongue was suddenly on mine. The tips touched and pushed together, fencing against each other, vying for position. His kiss tasted like the vanilla from the cake and something hot, spicy. Like cinnamon. To my everlasting embarrassment, I let out a little squeak of surprise and pleasure that I desperately hoped no one heard. But Lucas. He heard. His breath hitched and his hand on my head shifted when he heard it. And for just a second, he slipped that hand lower, to my neck, lacing those fingers through my hair. He stroked the side of my neck before abruptly pulling away.
Our eyes met and—wow—heat. Like something inside me had melted and taken on a new shape type of heat. His eyes locked on mine, reminding me of a freshly ignited flame. Raw, hungry, licking the surrounding air, desperate for more oxygen.
What the hell just happened?
My husband of six months had just kissed me for the first time since we’d exchanged vows. And though it had been brief, it had been incredibly hot, which explained the liquified sensation deep in my belly… and lower.
Cripes. Had Lucas turned me on? With a single goddamn kiss?
Lucas and I ripped gazes away from each other and he pointedly looked at the clock on the wall at the far end of the Den. “Okay, party time is over. No more questions. The cat’s out of the bag—”
“Literally!” someone chimed in.
My face flamed even hotter at the insinuation. “—and you all know, so let’s get back to work. We still need to categorize all the bug reports from the beta testers.”
After the requisite groans and complaints, our co-workers obeyed. Lucas and I shared another look, one where I was desperately trying to ask him WTF with my eyes without saying a word. I’m sure I looked as panicked as I felt but his face was calm, that same blank he was so good at doing. Very deliberately, he turned from me and went to his workstation.
I had too much nervous energy to sit down. Instead, I picked up all the cups and plates and stuffed them into a trash bag to take out to the dumpster.
When I returned, there were a bunch of guys from development clustered around our wedding cake like a flock of vultures. They were forking cake in and chatting with the game testers. Lucas was nowhere to be found and when they saw me, they all looked extremely guilty.
Obviously they had been talking about us when I’d entered. The cluster quieted after I ignored them and went back to my workstation. When Lucas re-entered the room—presumably after having gone to the washroom—the devs scattered like wet cats under a bucket of ice water.
Well shit. Here we go. I predicted that the news would be out and well-circulated within the next quarter of an hour. I could practically hear the entire Draco campus buzzing around me with it even now as my mind raced. I looked at my phone.
It was quickly lighting up with all kinds of text messages.
And before he hit the off button on his phone, Lucas’s device had practically vibrated itself off the surface of his desk. Our gazes met again, and I opened my eyes wide. But he shook his head and went back to work.
He clearly did not want to talk about what this all meant. I could try to send him a message, but he was decidedly ignoring his phone right now. Which was probably the best idea.
I turned mine off as well. Mind racing, I grabbed a pen and spare pad of yellow sticky notes to make a quick list. It wasn’t long and had the names of everyone I needed to reach out to soon, before the shit really hit the fan.
As I was brainstorming—and then doodling while I pondered all the ramifications of this recent development—more people entered to gawk and grab some cake. Before they could, however, Lucas shooed them out with a forceful and grumpy growl. Then he muttered, with an acrid eye cast around the room as if daring anyone to challenge him, that he wished there was a bolt lock on the Den door. Someone suggested wedging a chair up against it and, though he didn’t follow through, he did mutter something about maybe he’d try that next.
Except the next person to whip through the door was someone he couldn’t do anything about. Because it was Mia, my best friend.