Myra Gilbert walked toward us in a black evening gown.
Every gaze snapped to her.
She stopped in front of us, her face dark as a storm cloud. Her cold stare settled on me.
"Luke, even jokes have a time and place."
"Who said I was joking?"
"You deliberately arranged for me to kiss Jordan for ten seconds?"
"I did."
I smiled and nodded.
"I'm your wife."
"And you want me to kiss another man?"
"Are you out of your mind, or am I?"
Myra's chest heaved with barely contained fury.
She was fighting — visibly fighting — to hold herself together, to keep the rage locked behind her teeth.
"Think ten seconds is too short?" I said.
"Let's make it twenty."
I watched them both with a lazy grin — Myra frozen in disbelief, Jordan rooted to the spot like a man staring down a firing squad.
The rest of the company had gone blank. The entire ballroom was silent enough to hear a pin drop. Jaws hung open. Every single person stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
A long moment passed.
Myra's teeth sank into her lower lip so hard the skin went white. Her delicate face, lightly touched with makeup, had turned black as coal.
"Luke Cobb, have you completely lost it?"
"Lost it?"
"Maybe."
"But..."
I glanced at the two of them, and a slow smile spread across my face.
"Isn't this exactly what you both wanted?"
Jordan trembled from head to toe.
"Boss, what... what do you mean by that?"
"There's really nothing going on between me and your wife."
Whispers began rippling through the crowd around them. I couldn't make out every word, but the gist was clear enough: they thought I was being petty.
The whole company knew the story.
Not long ago, Myra had taken Jordan abroad on a market research trip. They'd had the misfortune of running into a group of armed muggers. Jordan had thrown himself into the fray without a second thought, fighting off the attackers to keep Myra safe. She'd walked away without a scratch. He'd been hospitalized with serious injuries.
He still hadn't fully recovered.
As Myra's husband, I should have been falling over myself with gratitude. The man had risked his life to save my wife. But instead of thanking him, I was humiliating him in front of the entire company. Accusing the two of them of having an affair.
"You don't owe him an explanation!"
Myra's gaze was cold enough to freeze the air around her. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.