L'Amour en Code

Chapter 81

"You're not bothering ," I said, louder than I meant to.

He paused. Mid-step. One brow raised, like he wasn’t expecting that. Like he thought I’d sit there all cool and aloof while he walked out of Café Riha and my Tuesday like some scene from a sad French film.

He turned back slowly, and I hated how stupidly perfect his hair looked when he did.

"Where are you going?" I asked, arms crossed, heart pounding. "I didn’t tell you you can leave. Did I?"

There. Said it. Delivered with just enough attitude to hide the panic blooming under my ribcage.

His lips quirked, a sinful little smirk crawling across his face like he knew.

Like he’d always known.

"No," he said, voice low and lazy as ever. "You didn’t."

And then, with all the calm menace of a man who had just been handed a key to heaven, he pulled the chair out again and sat back down across from me.

Lilac purred.
My laptop sighed.
And I… made the mistake of looking into his eyes.

God help me.

"You're such a menace for manipulating Hadi into manipulating Laiba just to get your name on the guest list for my parents’ anniversary," I said, narrowing my eyes at him over the rim of my coffee cup.

Mahib didn’t even flinch.

In fact, he had the audacity to look proud. That lazy, infuriating smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he leaned back in the chair, one arm slung over the back like he owned the entire café. Like he hadn't just hijacked a family event with the finesse of a charming criminal.

"Technically," he said, "I only manipulated Hadi. Laiba was a bonus. She caved in before dessert."

I gaped. "You bribed him with food?!"

He lifted a shoulder. "It was steak. Medium rare. And crème brûlée. Your people are surprisingly easy to sway."

"My people?!"

He shrugged again. "You mean to tell me you don’t want me there?"

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

Because, no, I didn’t want to say yes. But I also didn’t want him not there. Ugh.

He leaned in just slightly, voice lower now. “Come on, Raspberry. What’s a family celebration without your future husband?”

I nearly choked on my coffee.

Lilac sneezed dramatically, as if in agreement.

“You have a—”

I didn’t even get to finish.

His finger was on my lips before the rest of the sentence could escape—firm, deliberate, and laced with a warning I felt all the way down to my toes.

“Shh…” he whispered, eyes locked onto mine, his gaze heavy. Intense.

My breath hitched. The rest of the world dimmed.

Because I was going to say it. I was. The line I always threw like a shield between us. You have a fiancée. You still have a—

But maybe he was done hearing it.
Maybe I was done saying it.

Because in that moment… with the hush of his voice and the heat of his fingertip on my lips... it felt like a boundary neither of us wanted to keep anymore.