Chapter 91: Gracing her view

Sienna stood in the doorway and forgot the line she had come upstairs with.

She had meant to speak immediately. She had even arranged the words below in the living room; just simple discussion about brand image, PR handling, and the message her team had received from L×L Boxers. She wasn’t going to push beyond the boundary of their agreement.

However, none of those words survived the first full look at him.

Tom was still catching his breath from the push-ups. Sweat ran down the line of his chest and along the tighter cut of muscle that had not been there a week ago, or at least had not shown with this kind of force. His stomach was firmer. The shape of his abs already pushed through the skin with each heavy breath. And below the waistband of his boxers, the outline of his cock rested thick and long even soft, heavier than the roadside pictures had managed to suggest.

Those photos had been humiliating but this was worse in a different way, because it was somehow attractive and too close and impossible to dismiss as camera exaggeration.

Sienna realized she was staring and still did not look away quickly enough.

Tom noticed. Of course he noticed. But then something in him decided to be naughty.

’Let her view be graced...’

With that thought,he remained where he was, one hand braced lightly against the doorframe, his chest rising hard, the exertion still working through him. He did not bother to cover himself. He did not step back or angle his body away. He simply let her look while his breathing gradually began to settle.

After several seconds of silence, after he had caught his breath, he asked flatly, "Did you come up here just to stare?"

Sienna’s eyes snapped up to his face. The recovery was late and obvious. "No. No." she rushed out the words.

Tom studied her for a moment longer. "Then why are you here?"

She forced her mind back into order, though it took more effort than she wanted to admit. The air between them still carried the heat of his workout and the uncomfortable awareness of how little he had on. She hated that her first reaction had not been irritation or criticism. It had been attention.

"I came because of L×L Boxers," she said. "They reached out to my PR team."

That helped. Business language gave her somewhere to stand. She stepped one pace into the room without asking, then stopped as if realizing she had not planned to come closer.

She continued;

"They’re treating those pictures like a discovery. They want to sign you as one of their models and they’ve contacted my team because your name is already tied to mine publicly. They want to know whether this is something they can pursue."

Tom leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, still slightly breathless. "So they went to you first."

"Yes." Sienna’s gaze threatened to drop again and she stopped it by force. "It makes sense from their side. If they sign you, the public connection comes with them whether I like it or not. My team needs a response."

Tom wiped the back of his wrist across his brow and left a faint trace of sweat along the skin. Sienna’s eyes followed the movement before she could prevent it. The firmness of his chest under the light made the earlier scandal images look incomplete. Those had captured exposure. This was the body underneath the exposure, and it was changing too quickly for her comfort.

"I came to ask what response we should give them," Sienna added before he could reply. Then again added, sounding a bit persuasive;

"This is no longer only about you being embarrassed on the roadside. It is about whether that embarrassment becomes a controlled opportunity or continues as open mockery attached to my brand."

Tom watched her in silence for a second. The old version of him might have let her shape the whole discussion around damage control and her reputation alone. The present version heard the practical point and still did not hand the entire frame over to her.

"They’re one of the biggest in the city, right?" he asked. Sienna could notice the cockiness in his tone. She pressed her lips together, as one part of her, the part she didn’t understand, noted inwardly that of course with that body, a man would know his worth and could get cocky.

Tom tilted his head, waiting for a response. That jolted Sienna out of her thoughts and she nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, they are." Sienna folded her arms, then unfolded them again when the posture felt too defensive. "Which is why this has to be handled properly. If you refuse, the story remains that my husband was caught half-naked by the roadside and laughed at. If you accept, the same images get rewritten as the start of a campaign. That is a better public conversion."

Her voice remained controlled, but there was an undercurrent beneath it that had nothing to do with PR. She was still too aware of him... Her eyes were getting dragged down to his lower body despite how hard she was trying for them not to.

Tom noticed that too.

"You’re having a hard time keeping your eyes where you want them," he said mildly as if that wouldn’t embarrass the woman.

Sienna’s lips parted in shock after a heartbeat, her face tightened. "Don’t flatter yourself."

"I’m making an observation." Tom countered, fighting back a smile. It was amusing to see Sienna gawking like that at him.

"Well, observe less," she shot back, though the heat under the words betrayed her. She turned half a step away, then had to turn back because the conversation was not finished.

"Can you take this seriously for one minute, please?" she requested, shifting her tone back to the awkward formality.

"I never for once took it any less." Tom shrugged then when he saw how embarrassed she looked, he changed his tone; "You want a response for L×L Boxers. My answer is yes. I’ll accept the offer."

Sienna’s expression changed at once. Surprise first. Then clear satisfaction. The business part of her had wanted that answer more than she had let it show.

"Good, I’ll have my team get in touch with them and begin processing the terms. If this is handled correctly, the tone around those pictures can start shifting before the week runs any further." she said.

Tom nodded once. "Do that."

For a moment it seemed the conversation might end there. Sienna even glanced toward the door as if preparing to leave with the answer she had come for. Then her eyes returned to him again, to the sweat still drying on his skin and the harder lines of a body that no longer matched the soft dismissals she had once used to keep him in place. The look lasted too long to pretend it was accidental.

Before either of them spoke again, the System cut into Tom’s vision.

```

[SIDE MISSION]

Find out how much your new body affects Sienna,

The dirtier the approach, the higher the reward.

Base Reward: $200,000

[Accept / Reject? ]

```

Tom’s eyes lowered to the panel. His eyes dimmed as he read the mission.

He did not need the panel to know Sienna had already been affected, he could already tell but now the problem was how far he was going to push in order to find out the depth of it.

He looked at her again.

Sienna was still standing there, her chin slightly lifted, trying to return to her usual composure now that she had the business answer she wanted.

The panel waited...

Accept or reject?