Chapter 134: Unwanted Flirting

Dorian looked up at her, clearly confused. "What?"

"Come on, move." Naomi waved impatiently toward her chair. "Dorian, move."

He finally obeyed, sliding into the seat she had just vacated.

Naomi carefully navigated her way around him and took the middle chair, placing herself directly between Dorian and Lilian.

She gave Lilian her sweetest smile. "I like this seat better."

Nobody had asked.

Naomi continued anyway.

"So cushiony, and it has a great view of the stage."

Lilian’s gaze settled on her.

Naomi had the strange feeling the woman could see straight through her ridiculous excuse and knew exactly what she had done.

Lilian lifted one corner of her lips in a courteous smile.

Then she turned her attention back to the stage.

Naomi almost shrank beneath that piercing look.

She cleared her throat, adjusted herself in the chair and glanced toward Dorian.

He was staring at her.

"What?" Naomi whispered, scrunching her face.

"Thank you," he mouthed.

Oh.

Naomi smiled. She didn’t need him to explain.

He had told her there was something about being around Lilian that put him off balance. Naomi still had no idea what the problem was.

Whatever it was, he didn’t need to figure it out right now.

Naomi settled back into her chair and pretended to concentrate on the programme.

Soon, Camille walked onto the stage to introduce the speakers. There were three of them altogether: Lilian, Dorian and one other co-speaker from the business world, completely different from Dorian and Lilian’s legal field.

Still, it became obvious very quickly that Dorian was the man of the hour.

His introduction drew the strongest reaction from the audience.

When his name was called, Naomi gave him an encouraging smile.

He stood and walked toward the stage.

Naomi watched him take his seat beneath the lights, straighten his jacket and cross one leg over the other.

Unfortunately, Dorian leaving the table also created a vacancy.

Naomi didn’t realize what was happening until someone pulled out the chair beside her.

She turned just as Callum sat down.

The warning Dorian had given him earlier had come with an expiration date of approximately one hour.

Callum adjusted his jacket and smirked at Dorian.

Really, what was Dorian going to do now?

Walk off the stage?

Grab Callum by the collar and remove him from the Heathcliffe table in front of every camera at Blackstone?

"You look stunning today, Naomi," Callum said.

She didn’t turn toward him. Her attention remained firmly on Dorian.

"Should you be sitting here?" she asked. "This table is meant for the Heathcliffes."

Dorian noticed Callum, of course.

There was no universe in which another man could try to get his wife’s attention, Callum or not that it would escape his attention.

But Callum Sterling was a problem that could be dealt with properly later. Preferably somewhere without cameras.

For now, Dorian kept his expression neutral and focused on the question Camille had just asked about leadership under pressure.

At the table, Callum leaned slightly closer to Naomi.

"It’s a damned sin that you’ve hidden all of you for so long."

Naomi resisted the urge to sigh. "I’d rather people see who they get at one in the morning and appreciate it." She kept her voice low and polite, mostly because she didn’t want to embarrass her husband.

Callum smiled. "It’s definitely appreciated. You’ve turned me into a damned fool."

Naomi finally looked at him. "Callum, my husband will not appreciate you being here, and honestly, I need to concentrate on him right now." She gave him a pointed look. "Do you mind?"

Callum’s eyes narrowed. He clearly didn’t like the tone she was giving him.

Naomi turned back toward the stage anyway.

Dorian was speaking.

And immediately, everything else became background noise.

Callum watched her smile proudly.

The room listened to Dorian.

He spoke about leadership, responsibility and the reality of making decisions when there was no time to gather every possible fact.

Knowing when to act, when to listen and when hesitation itself could become the wrong decision.

Honestly, Naomi had no idea what half of it had to do with her life. Leadership theory was not exactly her cup of tea.

But Dorian was speaking. That made everything interesting.

She watched him gesture lightly with one hand while explaining the difference between reacting and making a difficult decision quickly under pressure.

And one completely useless thought took over her brain.

I married this man.

Naomi pressed her lips together to stop herself from smiling too widely.

Technically, she had married him drunk.

Still.

She found it ridiculously satisfying.

He was Dorian Heathcliffe.

And Naomi understood a little better why people seemed to either admire him, fear him or want his attention.

Still, as captivated as she was, Naomi kept watching for something else.

She noticed that whenever Lilian offered a different position or Camille tried to pull the two of them into the same argument, Dorian found a graceful way around it.

He redirected, expanded the question, brought the other speaker in. He answered without directly challenging her unless he absolutely had to.

Naomi’s brows lifted slightly. What was it about the woman that got him so uncomfortable? It seemed the woman kept triggering something in him.

Callum eventually got tired of watching Naomi make googly eyes at Dorian.

There was only so much a man could take before his ego began filing complaints.

He shifted in his seat, caught Camille’s attention and made a small motion with his hand.

With an elegant smile that gave absolutely nothing away, Camille turned the conversation toward the difficulty of balancing leadership with a personal life, particularly marriage.

Within minutes, the tide had turned against Dorian. After three failed marriages, Dorian Heathcliffe was hardly the poster boy for work-life balance.

"Leadership often demands enormous sacrifices. Time, energy, relationships. At what point does ambition stop being admirable and start becoming destructive?"

Dorian knew exactly where this was going. He also knew refusing to answer would make it worse.

So he sat back comfortably and spoke without showing any emotion.

"I spent a long time establishing my name in this field. My family may own Heathcliffe and Associates, but my father would never have handed me partnership simply because I was his son. I had to prove I was capable. So I worked hard, and yes, my personal life suffered. I do not plan on apologizing for that because I may suck at marriage, but I am a goddamned good criminal lawyer."