Chapter Fifteen
After a restless nightwhere Chloe was torn between sleep and going to Kayne’s room, she woke up frustrated and, sadly, alone.Her body felt as if it had run a marathon while her brain had been stuck pacing at the starting line.
She needed to be at work early to meet with Robin on her first day.Chloe didn’t realize she was grinding her molars until a flare of pain shot up her jaw.She forced her shoulders to loosen, praying it would trick her body into believing she wasn’t a vibrating mess of nerves.
Spoiler: it didn’t.
Danica was already inside her office.Not lounging prettily on the sofa or scrolling through her phone.No, she was perched behind Chloe’s desk, tapping on her computer with the proprietary confidence of someone who’d never been told no long enough for it to stick.
Chloe stopped in the doorway.“Danica?What are you doing?”
Her sister jumped.“Oh!Chlo!Gosh, you startled me.”She clicked the mouse repeatedly with a light, brittle smile.“I was just checking my email.Reception is garbage out there.”
Chloe’s stomach clenched.“On my computer?”
Danica tossed her hair; the motion practiced and a little too flippant.“Relax.I wasn’t prying.I don’t care about your little gym spreadsheets.”
The lie landed wrong.
It wasn’t her tone.Danica was always casually dismissive.It was the fact that Chloe could still see the faint ghost of her daily schedule on the locked login screen.Herprivateschedule, which included names, times, and gaps she hadn’t meant for anyone else to see.
Her palms went cold.
“Danica, did you open my calendar?”she asked carefully, the way you approach a loose stair, already bracing for the drop.
Danica’s smile froze, then recalibrated.“Why would I do that?”She laughed lightly—too lightly.“You think I care when you have meetings?Please.I can barely keep track of my own life.”
Before Chloe could push further, Kayne stepped into the office behind her.His presence filled the small space in that quiet, effortless way that made half her nervous system sit up and salute.The other half melted in relief before she could stop it.
And that was when Danica transformed.
She practically oozed off the desk and slinked toward him, lashes fluttering as if she were auditioning for a mascara commercial.
“Well helloooo, Kayne.”Her voice dipped into a sultry purr that made Chloe want to sink through the floor.“I didn’t know you were here today.You look,” her gaze dragged deliberately over him, “very fit.”Danica’s hand hovered near his biceps, debating a brazen pat.
Kayne blinked, then gave Chloe a look that said, “Please, dear God, collect your sibling before I jump out a window.”
“Morning, Ms.Giordano,” he said, stepping neatly out of her reach.“Everything all right?”
