I know it’s pathetic.
But I can’t seem to stop. And I can’t figure out why the fuck I’m doing it.
She’s not mine to protect. We’re colleagues. Six-week contract that ends with both of us walking away.
So why am I acting like her sunburn is my personal failure?
What the hell is wrong with me?
Fuck.
We’ve fallen into a rhythm that feels too familiar. Too easy. Like muscle memory from five years ago except sharper now. More dangerous.
She drafts. I edit. We argue over phrasing with the kind of shorthand that comes from people who’ve done this before.
Except it’s different now.
At this very moment, we’re elbow-to-elbow, reviewing a predatory land-lease clause. The Martinez family case again.
Her forearm brushes mine as she scrolls my laptop.
Neither of us pulls away.
The contact makes me want to thread my fingers through hers. Want to kiss the spot where her pulse jumps at her wrist. Want to slide my hand up her arm and feel her shiver the way she did New Year’s Eve when I—
Stop.
Why the fuck am I thinking about this?
It was just one night.
A night she walked away from without looking back.
That should’ve been the end of it.
Instead I’m sitting here obsessing over the exact point where her wrist meets her palm like I’m a teenager losing my goddamn mind.
I’m thirty-six years old.
A billionaire.
I should have better control than this.
“Wait,” she mutters, leaning closer to the screen. “Look at this renewal date. March 2023.”
Her shoulder presses against mine. It feels warm through the thin linen.
Move!
Create distance.
I shift, breaking the contact, and force myself to focus on the screen. “What about it?”
“The Bahamas amended their Property Act in January 2023. Added new disclosure requirements for lease modifications affecting residential occupancy.” She’s scrolling now, fast, like she’s chasing something. “If this developer failed to provide the required statutory disclosures before execution...”
She trails off. Grabs her phone. Pulls up what looks like a legal database.
“There,” she says triumphantly. “Section 12, subsection C. Any lease modification affecting residential tenancy executed after January 1, 2023 requires written disclosure in plain language of all material changes, including but not limited to payment escalations, renewal terms, and termination conditions.”
