“Why didn’t you?” The woman in his arms was strong, but he didn’t think anyone, including Portia, realized how strong.
“I didn’t want to quit. I still don’t.” She shifted until she straddled his thighs. This close he could see her scowl. Her voice was strong and sure. “I’m good at my job. I’ll be a great CEO.”
“So do that. Be the leader the company needs right now.”
“What does that even mean? Iamthe CEO.” She growled at him. It might have been scary if she was wearing her Ice Queen armor rather than soft, oversize clothes. Instead, it was so hot it sent a frisson of excitement to his groin.
He met her gaze. “Are you just filling in for your father or are you Portia Tremaine, CEO? You have the ability to mold the company into your vision of it,” he told her. “That vision needs to come from here,” he tapped her temple, “and here.” He placed his palm over her heart and felt its rapid beat.
“You make it sound so easy.” She dropped her head to his shoulder. “It’s so damn hard.”
“That’s why you need to surround yourself with people you trust. You made a good start tonight.”
She heaved a deep sigh. Her breath warmed his neck. “I’m never sure if I can trust them all the way.”
Aleks’s laugh echoed around them. “Portia, they all tried to protect you from me.”
“That’s because you work for the Solveig Consortium.”
“Exactly. They put themselves between you and the enemy.”
“Hmm,” she said into his neck. “You don’t feel like the enemy,” she murmured.
Every cell in his body flared to life with her sleepy words. Each neuron raced to imagine all the possible futures with Portia, all at once. His headache flared to life, a white-hot burst of pain before everything went black.
Chapter35
Portia’s eyesfluttered closed and she had to blink twice to open them. She couldn’t fall asleep, not yet. She had to stay awake until she was sure Aleks was going to be okay.
Her heart had nearly stopped when his eyes had rolled back into his head and he’d passed out. He was lucky he was sitting on the couch, because otherwise she was sure he would have crumpled to the floor.
She’d tried to rouse him by calling his name and when that didn’t work, she’d slapped his cheeks. Just a little. The only things that kept her from utter panic were his strong pulse and regular breathing. Those were also the things that kept her from calling Tremaine Medical Services. She had no idea how either of them would explain his presence in her apartment.
Pushing and dragging, she’d managed to lay him full-length on the couch and then had sat on the couch with his head on her lap. That had been hours ago. Long hours spent hoping he would wake up. How much longer should she give it?
“Stay awake, Portia,” she said when her eyelids drooped again. She was so tired. “C’mon, Aleks, please wake up.” Checking his pulse with one hand, she smoothed back his hair with the other. Her leg had fallen asleep hours ago, but she didn’t want to leave him alone in an unfamiliar place. And she couldn’t move him on her own.
“Please wake up,” she whispered again. It had become a mantra of sorts as she sat here in the dark with him.
“I’m... awake,” he croaked suddenly.
“Oh my god, finally!” Her hands patted his cheeks, his forehead, his chest. “Do you know where you are? Do you know who you are?”
“I’m Aleks. You’re Portia. And I’m...” His eyes blinked open slowly. “I’m staring at your ceiling?”
“You’re all right!” Tears welled in her eyes. “I was so scared. You collapsed so suddenly. I was terrified.”
“It was a headache.” He reached for her hand where it rested on his chest and curled his fingers around hers. “It’s my glitch.”
“Your glitch?”
“That’s what I call it,” he said. “When my brain gets overloaded, sometimes it jumps from headache to off switch.”
“But you’re okay now?”
“Yeah, I should be.” He dropped her hand and placed one of his on the back of the couch and other on the cushion by his side. Using that leverage, he pulled himself up to a sitting position.
She kept one hand on his back between his shoulder blades in case he needed a little help. He didn’t.
