Laura set down her clicker and leaned back in the chair. She cast her audience an eager stare, but her legs stayed crossed in passive defensiveness.

"What do you think?" she asked.

Celene shifted in her seat and darted her eyes to the slides on the projection, then back to Laura.

"Um, firstly, I'd like to say you've done an incredible job here." Celene's voice wavered, but her poise remained. "Charlie told me all about you, and you really do live up to your name."

"Oh, did he?" Laura flashed a sickening smile and brought her eyes to Charlie, who sat stiffly across the table from Celene. "Well, I certainly hope he spared no details."

If Laura was going to abandon ship, then she refused to go out in flames. Instead, she was going to pour her honey-sweet sickness all over this wreck, and the Spectres would have to slowly unstick themselves from the mess they started.

Celene clasped and unclasped her hands, before deciding to clasp them again. Charlie fixed his stare on the middle of the table as he deflated with a wordless exhale.

"Laura, I –" Celene hesitated. "– we are so sorry for how strange this must be for you."

Laura blinked innocently. "Strange? Why would it be strange for me? I'm just doing my job. Is that strange to either of you?"

The room festered in awkward silence. Wickedly, Laura delighted in watching the dynamic duo marinate in discomfort. It was fair payment for the troubles they had saddled upon her.

The couple shared a look of unease, and Celene's slender features creased into a frown.

"Laura, I know how much Charlie meant to you..."

Laura tilted her head, her mock ignorance cementing another brick in her stonewall. "Yes, he has been an integral part of PillBox. He is the developer, after all. Now, Celene, what are you going to do for Spectre?"

Tension pulled on Celene's face, but she calmly outlined her expansion plans with composed grace. Laura searched her striking green eyes, unable to reconcile this portrait of elegance with the sordid sight of her cheating on Charlie in a drug-addled nightclub.

Celene rounded off her solid business roadmap for the company, but Laura wasn't sure if she was appeased – and frankly, at this point, she didn't care. Her lips forming a plastic grin, she waved them out of the meeting room, and Celene departed with another apologetic grimace.

Charlie followed her, but instead of stepping out, he promptly shut the door.

"What –" Laura bristled and bolted up from her chair.

Wordlessly, he marched forward, his aggression eroding her steely veneer. Her spine backed against the table, where he now stood mere inches away, their bodies cutting the projection and eclipsing the numbers on the screen.

His eyes blazed an angry blue. "Don't you think I know what you're doing?"

"What am I doing?" Laura spat back, willing her mind to ignore the enticing strain of his pinstripe shirt over his chest.

He exhaled, his voice husky with frustration. "You're torturing me, Rain."

She scoffed, a sneer creeping onto her face. "Not everything is about you, Spectre."

"And not everything is about you." He glowered down at her, his sharp features overcast by a menacing shadow. "We don't always get everything we want in business. You should know this by now."

Laura gritted her teeth, challenging him. "Pray, tell. What could you possibly want that money can't buy?"

"You."

His confession hooked into her heart and yanked the breath from her lungs. His hooded eyes fell to her lips, underscored by a fiercely pained plea. "I want you so fucking much, Laura."

She blinked, her eyes sinking with her stomach. "You should be saying that to your wife-to-be."

He sniggered. "Trust me, neither of us wants that."

Neither of us? Laura hesitated, struggling to decide if she should reveal Celene's infidelity. Something told her Charlie wouldn't be too bothered by it to halt his advances. Advances such as the tickle of his breath on her forehead, softening the bark that was building on her tongue.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she whispered, suppressing the dangerous desire that mounted within her.

He lifted a finger and traced the line from her ear to her jaw, tangling into a stray lock that curled from her bangs. The murmur of his voice crept into her ears, quiet and morose.

"She has the same hair. Every day, I try to pretend that you're there. That it's your beautiful voice talking to me about even the most banal things, but... she's just not you."

Laura pulled her gaze to the floor, fighting the urge to meet his amorous stare. "I can't. I won't be your side piece."

He dropped his hand down to her arm, where his fingers softly trailed down her skin and goosebumps rose to meet his graze.

"She won't mind."

Without warning he dipped his head and planted his lips on her neck, launching a shockwave down her spine and sending her head reeling back. The air trembled heavily in her lungs as her skin tingled under his tender touch, finally fulfilled by the delicacy it so desperately craved.

"Charlie..." she rasped out.

"Hmm?" A languid hum rumbled deep in his being and shuddered against her chest, which now ached for the delightful kisses that lapped down her neck.

She clutched at the sleeves rolled above his elbows, feeling his muscles clench beneath her grip. Uncertainty battled for her attention – did he already know about Celene's affair? Were they in an open relationship?

Celene's words suddenly rang in her mind. Charlie has told me all about you.

Did that include his feelings for her?

Doubt crippled her desire and Laura grasped his shoulders – wishing she could enjoy his bulk under different circumstances – and forced him away from her burning skin.

He pulled back with slight resistance, gazing at her with hazy longing. She calmed her breath and bit the inside of her cheek.

"Does she know?"

Charlie licked his lips, planting his hands firmly to the table on both sides of Laura. "Know what?"

"About how you feel."

"You mean, about my raging emotional boner for you?" he chuckled. "Yes."

She gawked mutely at his sincere face. His answer drifted in a sea of uncertainty, searching for solid land – but Laura had no idea what to do with that information. So what if Celene knew? It didn't change the fact that they were engaged, and Laura had no plans to break her boundaries. She would never be a side piece.

She shook her head, clearing her mind of the fog that clouded her senses.

"I can't do it, Charlie. I can't be with a man who is promised to someone else." She stood up, her sudden movement forcing him back. She straightened her hair and wiped his slick from her neck. "If you wanted me so badly, you should have figured this out first."

Ignoring his protests, Laura swung the wooden door open and marched out of the meeting room.

♥