From His Invisible Wife to the World's Icon novel Chapter 88

A married woman!

Lydia bit her lip hard. She had no business getting tangled up with him!

No wonder he had angrily slammed the door in her face last night.

She desperately wanted to clear the air. She didn't want this misunderstanding to escalate and ruin their professional dynamic, especially when she already had a mountain of problems to deal with.

Tilting her head up, she met Xavier's fathomless gaze.

"Mr. Ford, I honestly don't know why we keep running into these bizarre situations, but I need you to stop jumping to conclusions. I've been married for two years, and my husband and I have a great relationship..."

Back at The Gilded Palate, Xavier had seen Frederick acting intimately with Sierra and called Lydia "birds of a feather."

He clearly assumed her marriage was a wreck and that she was trying to latch onto him as a new meal ticket.

He suddenly leaned down, his handsome face hovering mere inches from hers. The crisp, intoxicating scent of cedarwood and faint mint utterly hijacked her senses.

Memories of the elevator at The Pulse rushed back with violent clarity.

The darkness.

The breathless friction of their bodies. The alcohol burning in her veins as she instinctively parted her lips, welcoming his deep, demanding kiss.

The taboo, heated imagery flooded her brain. Meeting Xavier's intense stare, her breathing turned jagged. An uncontrollable wave of vulnerability washed over her, making her knees weak.

She clamped her hands into tight fists, using the sharp tension in her muscles to anchor her fraying sanity.

He pried her tense fingers apart, revealing the raw, irritated skin where she had driven her nails into her palms.

He traced the angry marks with a gentle thumb.

The unexpected sting made her gasp. She tried to snatch her hand back, but he pulled with a dominant strength, yanking her flush against his chest.

Lydia raised her free hand to push against his chest, hyper-aware of her status as a married woman. She couldn't afford to get close to him and ruin his reputation. But the moment her fingers grazed the warm, sheer fabric of his white dress shirt, his large hand clamped down on her shoulder, pressing her back onto the sofa.

Still holding her hand, he took a small tube of soothing ointment from the table and gently rubbed it over the irritated skin of her palm.

The cooling sensation of the gel mixed with the blazing heat of his touch completely derailed her train of thought.

He was only stepping in to help her.

She knew she shouldn't accept his kindness, but for a fleeting second, she couldn't bear to pull away.

Feeling a hard, radiating heat against her, her eyes went wide. She stared up at him in shock, her eyelashes fluttering wildly, but his dark eyes remained an unreadable abyss.

She heard Frederick's footsteps draw closer. Peering over Xavier's shoulder, she looked through the gaps in the wooden screen, her breath catching as she met Frederick's cold, dead eyes.

Forgetting entirely to push Xavier away, her heart lodged in her throat.

"Dr. Vance, have you seen my boss's wife?" Griffin's voice drifted in from the hallway.

Frederick stopped in his tracks, turned, and walked out of the VIP room.

The door clicked shut.

Lydia let out a massive sigh of relief. Finally registering the heavy weight of Xavier's hand on her waist, she placed her hands flat against his chest and shoved.

He didn't let go. Looking down at her hands, his voice was a low, indifferent drawl. "If you weren't trying to seduce me, why are we hiding?"

She belatedly realized she was the one who had grabbed him first. She opened her mouth to explain but found herself completely devoid of excuses.

Words failed her.

The hand on her waist released her, only to slide up and tilt her chin. His sharp, predatory gaze locked onto hers, trapping her in his suffocating, untouchable aura. "Don't let there be a next time," he warned, his voice tight with restrained tension.