Once Claire realized Dane was asleep, she didn't just drive slowly-she drove with absolute, careful precision.
She didn't overtake a single car.
Let alone attempt any of the thrilling, high-speed maneuvers from earlier.
She drove him straight to his office, knowing that despite his red-eye flight, he still had a morning meeting to run.
By the time she parked in the underground garage beneath Vertex International, Dane was still dead to the world.
He was a quiet sleeper, no snoring, though his slightly awkward posture made his breathing a little heavy.
Slumber softened the sharp, striking contours of his face, erasing the usual predatory intensity in his expression.
Claire reached out, intending to gently smooth the crease between his brows, but the man suddenly woke. His eyes snapped open, locking onto hers as his hand caught her wandering fingers.
Their gazes collided.
Claire felt a flush of embarrassment.
She hadn't meant anything by it.
She just hadn't been able to stop herself in the moment.
Blame it on his distractingly good looks.
"If I said I wasn't doing anything, would you believe me?" Claire blinked innocently.
Having just woken up, Dane's eyes were still slightly clouded, catching the dim light in a way that made them dangerously captivating.
He glanced down at the hand he had caught-slender and soft.
Then he looked back at Claire's guilty expression. It didn't take a genius to guess she had been up to no good while he was asleep.
But since it was his fiancée just trying to mess with him, Dane certainly wasn't going to get mad.
"Yeah, I believe you." His raspy morning voice was thick with indulgent amusement. Seeing his deadpan reaction, Claire knew she couldn't just brush it off. She laughed, "I just saw you frowning in your sleep. You looked uncomfortable, so I wanted to smooth out your forehead."
Dane's indulgence didn't waver. "Alright."
He lifted her fingers and pressed them directly against his brow.
"Like this?"
The cool touch of Claire's fingertips on his skin sent a soothing wave through him.
Feeling the radiating heat of his skin
made Claire's heart skip a beat. Meeting his patient, deeply affectionate gaze, she suddenly wanted to pull away.
"Why did you stop?" Dane caught her hand again.
This time, the firm heat of his palm sent an entirely different kind of electricity coursing through her.
She belatedly realized just how intimately charged the atmosphere in the enclosed car had become.
"Um, don't you have a meeting? It's already eight twenty-five. Won't you be late if you don't head up now?"
Claire deflected, trying desperately to ignore the burning heat in her ears.
Dane frowned slightly. "It's early. The meeting isn't until nine."
Huh?
Claire froze.
So when he said he had to get back to the office for a meeting, it wasn't actually an urgent rush.
"I have an apartment right across
of
St.get
from the building. There's plenty time to head there change clothes, and grab breakfast."
"The breakfast at my place is always incredible. Want to try it?"
Though he phrased it as a question, his eyes were brimming with such quiet anticipation that it was impossible to say no.
Who could ruthlessly reject a gorgeous man, anyway?
"Then why don't you go change, and I'll wait for you here in the garage?" Claire compromised, not outright refusing him.
But Dane had no intention of leaving her alone in the parking structure armed with the perfect excuse The andown here is terrible. Come up with me."
"You've never seen my apartment before. Why don't you come take a look?"
When a devastatingly handsome guy invited you up to his place, did you really say no?
Claire hesitated for a split second before agreeing.
He was just going up to change his clothes, so how much of an apartment tour could she really get?
It would only take a few minutes anyway.
Claire wrote it off as Dane being uncharacteristically clingy and needing some company.
Then again, it was incredibly strange-Dane didn't look like the clingy type at all.