Lucas Hayes wasn’t used to feeling out of control. Yet here he was, standing near the bar at the supplier appreciation dinner for Morgan’s Hardware, watching Ella laugh with some guy in a cheap suit. The man—Mark, one of her longtime vendors—leaned in a little too close, touching her arm as he told some story that made her smile wide and genuine.
Lucas’s grip tightened on his glass of scotch.
It had been two weeks since the gala kiss, and the tension in the penthouse had become unbearable. Ella had been quieter since that night in her room, pulling back whenever he tried to get close. He told himself it was for the best. The rules existed for a reason.
But seeing her with another man cracked something inside him.
“Who’s that?” he asked one of the store managers standing nearby, keeping
