Lucius reads better as workplace banter than as romance

The strongest lines in this one are the office setup — the secretary noticing the neck mark, Lucius deflecting with the kitten line without missing a beat. That deadpan, everyone-play-along tone is genuinely well written. Where it gets shakier is once the scene moves past the office banter, the prose starts leaning on generic sugar-daddy phrasing instead of the specific, dry voice from the opener. Worth going in for the workplace comedy more than the romance angle.