Victoria had spent eighteen hours replaying Alex's voice, his eyes, the electricity when their hands touched. Board meetings became background noise as she remembered every glance, every moment she'd felt genuinely seen.
'This is insane'
She told herself while staring at quarterly projections. 'He's twenty-two. He's dating your daughter.'
But rational thoughts evaporated when she remembered how Alex had looked at her....not like an older woman or someone's mother, but like she was fascinating. Desirable.
Her reflection showed a woman who looked a decade younger than forty-two. For the first time in years, Victoria saw herself as attractive rather than just professionally polished.
At 4 PM, she canceled her remaining appointments and went home early, something she hadn't done in five years.
Victoria chose her outfit with unusual care. An emerald silk blouse that brought out her eyes, hair loose instead of her typical severe bun.
Her phone buzzed: "Nevada fundraiser extended through Friday. Don't wait up." - James
No "miss you" or "love you." Just logistics. Victoria felt nothing.
Another text from Sophia: "Staying at Marcus's again. Big project."
Marcus again. Not Alex.
Victoria stared at the screen a moment longer than necessary. She wasn't naive, she could read between the lines. Sophia was spending more time with Marcus than with the man who was supposed to be her boyfriend.
Maybe something was going on. Probably.
But tonight, Victoria didn't care.
Tonight, she felt something else. Not betrayal. Not anger.
Relief.
Because tonight, this house wouldn't be empty.
Tonight, Alex would fill it...with presence, with warmth, with something real.
Victoria checked the time obsessively. 6:45 PM.
The doorbell chimed at exactly seven, and her heart hammered like she was sixteen.
___
Alex stood at the entrance feeling transformed. The system enhancements were stronger now, his posture commanding, his voice carrying magnetic authority.
```
TARGET STATUS: Victoria Blackwood
Attraction Level: 81% (Overnight surge)
Vulnerability: Maximum
Physical Tension: Critical
Strategy: Physical breakthrough required
again
```
'She spent all day thinking about me,' Alex realized as the door opened. Victoria's outfit, loose hair, her breathing change, everything screamed this was no longer just business.
"Victoria," Alex said, his enhanced voice carrying undertones that made people want to keep listening. "You look absolutely stunning."
The compliment hit like lightning. Victoria's breath caught, color flooding her cheeks. "Thank you. I... please, come in."
She'd rearranged the furniture, chairs closer, lighting softer. Victoria was unconsciously creating seduction while telling herself it was business.
"I canceled three meetings to research your concepts," she said, too eagerly, then caught herself.
"You canceled meetings for me?" Alex asked with genuine surprise.
"Your ideas warrant serious attention," she rationalized.
'She's already prioritizing me,' Alex noted with satisfaction.
Lilith whispered: "She's primed. Look at her shoulders....rigid with tension. Time for the Golden Touch."
'What's the Golden Touch?' Alex asked mentally.
"My welcome gift to you," Lilith purred. "Your hands will trigger intense pleasure, addictive, euphoric. Every touch will rewire her brain to crave you. Consider it... supernatural seduction."
___
They settled with business plans between them, but Victoria kept rolling her shoulders, touching her neck, clearly in discomfort.
"Victoria, you're in pain," Alex observed.
"Just stress knots," she dismissed. "Twenty years of board meetings. I'm used to it."
"You shouldn't be used to constant pain." Alex moved closer. "Those knots represent every burden you carry alone."
Victoria's eyes widened. "How did you...?"
"I can see how you're holding yourself. Every muscle is rigid." Alex paused. "Let me help. I learned therapeutic massage at a clinic, one of my many jobs paying for textbooks."
Victoria's expression mixed desire and alarm. "Alex, I couldn't ask...."
"You're not asking. I'm offering." He stood, moving behind her chair. "When's the last time someone touched you just to make you feel better? Not a handshake or social hug, but touched you to give comfort?"
Victoria closed her eyes. "It's been... a very long time."
"I'm someone who cares about you," Alex said gently, hands hovering over her shoulders. "Right now, I'm only thinking about you and what you need."
Her last defense crumbled. "Okay. Just... just for a few minutes."
The moment Alex's hands contacted Victoria's shoulders, the system activated: Golden Hands. Warm energy flowed through his palms as supernatural pleasure radiated through her nervous system.
"Oh my God," Victoria gasped, head falling forward as bliss unlike anything she'd experienced shot from every point of contact. "That feels... I don't understand... this is incredible."
The enhancement triggered neurochemical floods, endorphins, oxytocin, creating addictive euphoria. Victoria's brain began rewiring to crave his touch.
"Just relax," Alex murmured, his magical touch working along her neck. "Let me take care of you."
Victoria began crying, not from pain, but overwhelming relief. Twenty years of stress melted away with her emotional defenses.
"I forgot," she whispered through tears. "I forgot what it felt like to have someone touch me just to make me feel good."
The Golden Hands were creating literal addiction, rewiring neural pathways to associate Alex with the most intense pleasure she'd felt in decades.
"You deserve to be cared for," Alex said, voice hypnotic. "You've forgotten you matter as a woman, not just as a CEO or wife."
"Alex, this is..." she moaned softly as his thumbs found tense spots. "I've never felt anything like this."
"I'm giving you what you need," Alex replied, knowing the system was drugging her with pleasure.
Victoria's body completely relaxed for the first time in years. "I'm becoming addicted to this feeling. Not just your touch, but being with someone who sees me as worth caring for."
The addiction was literal, Alex knew. The way her voice softened, the way her breath caught....she was surrendering to something she hadn't let herself feel in years.
Alex's hands moved slowly, deliberately. No longer the careful strokes of a massage therapist, this was something else. His fingers traced the delicate line of her neck, dipped down to brush along her collarbones, gliding over skin as if memorizing her.
Victoria's breath hitched. She didn't stop him.
"This is wrong," she whispered, but her body leaned into his touch. "You're with my daughter. I'm married…"
"What's wrong," Alex said softly, "is how long you've gone unseen. You've forgotten how it feels to be wanted."
His hands slid down, caressing the curves of her shoulders and arms. Then further....slow, confident strokes along her sides, where fabric clung tightly to her form. When his palms glided down the arc of her waist to the flare of her hips, Victoria trembled. A sharp thrill shot down her spine.
Her rational mind scrambled for ground. Sophia doesn't see him. Not like I do. She treats him like James treats me, like I'm nothing.
But Alex made her feel everything.
His fingers brushed the edge of her ribs and down to the dip of her lower back, thumbs grazing inwards, sensual, patient. Victoria gasped softly, her skin burning under his touch.
"You're the most incredible woman I've ever met," he whispered at the shell of her ear. "You deserve to be cherished. Desired."
The words unspooled something inside her. She turned to face him, only inches apart now, heart pounding.
Her lips parted, and her voice came out like a breathless confession.
"Alex…"
She reached up, trembling fingers brushing his jaw. "I haven't felt alive in so long. What are you doing to me?"
He caught her hand gently, pressing it against his cheek. "Showing you what you've been denied for far too long."
The air between them pulsed with heat.
Victoria's last coherent thought was that this would ruin everything.
But even that couldn't smother the one thing louder than guilt....desire.
And for the first time in forever, she wanted ruin.
Just as Victoria leaned forward, lips parting, her phone exploded with sound.
RING. RING. RING.
They froze, the spell shattered. Victoria's screen showed: SOPHIA CALLING
"I have to..." Victoria whispered, but her hand shook as she reached for the phone.
"Mom?" Sophia's voice was sharp through the speaker. "I'm coming home in twenty minutes. Marcus and I had a fight and I need to vent. Also, Alex didn't come home,right?"
Victoria's eyes went wide with panic. Alex was still behind her chair, hands on her shoulders, both of them flushed and breathing hard.
"I... no, I haven't seen him," Victoria lied, her voice barely steady. "Are you sure you want to come home? It's late..."
"I'm already in the car. Be there soon."
The line went dead.
Victoria and Alex stared at each other in horror. Twenty minutes. Her daughter, Alex's girlfriend, was coming home in twenty minutes, and they were...
"You have to go," Victoria breathed. "She can't see you here. She can't know..."
But as Alex stepped away, Victoria felt the loss of his touch like physical pain. The Golden Hands had created genuine addiction, her body was already craving more contact.
"When?" Alex asked simply.
Victoria knew she should say never. Should end this before it destroyed everything.
Instead, she heard herself whisper: "Tomorrow. Same time. James won't be back until Friday."
Alex smiled, knowing he'd won.
As he slipped out the back entrance, Victoria touched her lips, still tingling from what almost happened.
Twenty years of perfect control, shattered by a twenty-two-year-old's supernatural touch.
And God help her, she was already counting the hours until she could feel it again.
___
Author's Note:
Okay, deep breath. That just happened.
Yes, I slowed things down in Chapter 4, intentionally. I wanted you to ache with the tension, to feel the push and pull, the unsaid words.
But here?
This chapter?
We dove headfirst into the fire.
Victoria crossed a line she's been staring at for far too long, and you know what? She didn't fall. She leapt.
I promised this story would blur lines between power and vulnerability, control and craving, logic and lust.
So… how are we doing so far?