A lazy smile curved across her lips.
“So this is why people drink.” She gave a quiet giggle, hugging the bottle loosely against her chest as her gaze drifted around the room, then she blinked several times.
Someone was standing in front of her.
Lena frowned in confusion before squinting slightly, trying to bring the tall figure into focus.
The alcohol blurred the edges of her vision, but one thing remained unmistakably clear: he was unbelievably handsome.
His broad shoulders, sharp features, and striking eyes seemed almost unreal, as though someone had stepped straight out of one of the romance dramas she had always laughed at.
A delighted smile spread across her face.
“Hehe…” she softly giggled.
“What a handsome man we have here…
Is this room service too?” Tilting her head to one side, she looked at him with exaggerated seriousness before nodding to herself.
“I guess fate decided to compensate me after all.”
Without the slightest hesitation she reached out with one hand and gently cupped his face, her fingertips brushing lightly against his cheek as though trying to make sure he was real.
The warmth beneath her fingertips felt startlingly real.
Lena blinked several times, her already blurred vision refusing to settle as she continued staring at the handsome stranger before her.
The room swayed gently around her, the wine leaving everything wrapped in a pleasant haze, yet the man remained perfectly still, watching her with an expression she could not quite decipher.
She lightly frowned.
“Hmm…” Her fingers wandered from his cheek to the bridge of his nose before she lightly poked it, watching him with a growing fascination as he remained perfectly still in front of her.
“How strange…” she murmured, blinking several times as though she could not quite believe what she was seeing.
Then a delighted giggle escaped her lips.
“Hehe… alcohol really is something else.
I can actually see and touch real people now.” She looked at him with exaggerated amazement before glancing down at the wine bottle in her hand as though she had just discovered the greatest invention in human history.
“Where have you been all my life, dear wine?
She lifted the bottle slightly as though making a toast to her newest discovery before turning her attention back to the handsome stranger standing quietly before her.
Lena tilted her head, studying him with exaggerated concentration.
The alcohol had made the room pleasantly hazy, yet somehow his face remained perfectly clear to her, every sharp feature seeming even more beautiful the longer she looked at him.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously before reaching up and gently touching his cheek again.
“You’re still here,” she murmured, sounding almost more surprised to herself.
Like if it was a dream, he was still in the dream.
The man finally spoke, his deep voice calm enough to cut through the soft music playing in the background.
“Would you prefer that I wasn’t?”
Lena’s eyes widened as she stared at him for several seconds before a delighted smile slowly spread across his face.
“You talk!
I can hear your voice…”
Something almost imperceptible shifted in the man’s expression.
“I do.”
She giggled again, apparently fascinated by this discovery.
“I thought you were one of those handsome, mysterious men who just stood around looking beautiful without saying anything.”
His brows lifted slightly.
“And that’s disappointing?”
“No,” she replied immediately, shaking her head with great seriousness.
“It’s actually better.” She reached toward his shirt and carefully smoothed an imaginary crease from the fabric before leaning closer to him.
Her nose almost brushed against his chest as she took a slow breath, and her expression softened with genuine curiosity.
“You smell really nice,” she whispered.
“Like rain… but there’s something else too.” She inhaled again, her brows drawing together as she tried desperately to identify the unfamiliar scent that seemed to wrap itself around her senses.
“Something warm.”
He could feel the strange pull of the bond intensifying with every second she remained close, yet the woman standing before him seemed completely unaware of the significance of what was happening.
“You don’t know what it is?” he asked quietly.
Lena shook her head, then looked up at him with a sleepy smile.
“No, but I like it.
I like it very much…”
Something almost resembling amusement touched Cassian’s otherwise unreadable face for a brief moment.
Lena noticed it immediately and pointed at him with sudden triumph.
“There!
You smiled.
What a beautiful smile….”
Cassian’s expression returned to its usual composure.
“I didn’t.”
“You did,” she insisted, giggling as she reached up to poke his cheek again.
“I saw it.”
He caught her wandering hand gently before she could poke him a second time, his fingers closing loosely around hers.
“You’re very observant for someone who can barely stand.”
Lena looked down at their joined hands, then back at him, her smile becoming softer.
“Maybe I’m just lucky.”
Cassian’s gaze remained fixed on her as the bond between them pulsed quietly beneath his skin.
For a man who had spent nearly three decades believing he would never have a mate, there was something strangely disarming about standing in a hotel room with a heartbroken human woman who had no idea who he was and was currently more fascinated by his face than by the fate that had brought them together.
Outside, the rain continued to fall against the windows, its steady rhythm blending with the distant hum of the city below.
Inside the room, the atmosphere had become strangely peaceful, and the tension that had been lingering in Lena’s body since the afternoon slowly began to ease as she stood before the handsome stranger, seemingly content simply to have someone there with her.
“You know…” she said softly, her words beginning to slur as the wine continued to cloud her thoughts, “you’re much better looking than my assigned partner.” A sleepy smile curved across her lips as she studied his face again, apparently fascinated by the fact that someone so handsome had appeared in her room at precisely the moment she needed a distraction from her broken heart.