Even with those words, I knock anyway.
"Come in." His voice carries through the door and my pulse kicks up before I've touched the handle.
Dominic is behind his desk with his sleeves rolled to his elbows and a pen between his teeth, reading something on his monitor. He looks up when I enter and pulls the pen from his mouth, the slow curve of his lips telling me he knows exactly why I'm here.
"Mattaniah." He says my name like he's tasting it. "What can I do for you?"
"I, um." The folder suddenly feels ridiculous in my grip. "I had a question about the, um, the interdepartmental filing system. Tamsin said you might know the protocol for archiving last quarter's memos."
"Tamsin said that."
"Yes."
"Tamsin, who works on the executive floor, sent you to the twelfth floor to ask the CEO's son about a filing protocol."
My face is on fire. "It's a very specific protocol."
He leans back in his chair and the pen taps against his lower lip. "Close the door."
I obey, the click of the latch sounding louder than it should, and the room shrinks around us as his scent fills the enclosed space. My body responds immediately, the blocker straining against a swell of warmth in my belly that I grit my teeth against.
"Bring me the folder." He holds out his hand.
The walk across his office takes forever. The folder feels more ridiculous with every step because Dominic's gaze tracks me the whole way and by the time I reach his desk I'm certain he can see the lie written across my face in neon. I hold the folder out and his fingers brush mine when he takes it, a contact that sends heat up my wrist. He flips it open, glances at the contents for maybe two seconds, and sets it on his desk.
"These are last week's interdepartmental memos."
"Yes."
"There is no archiving protocol question."
"No." My voice comes out small. "There isn't."
He stands and rounds the desk until he's leaning against the front of it, close enough that I have to tilt my chin up to hold eye contact. His scent is stronger here, concentrated by the warmth of his body. His hand comes up and his thumb presses againstthe hinge of my jaw, turning my face to one side, then the other. His eyes move over my features slowly enough that I feel each second of it on my skin.
"You came to find me." He states, leaving no room for argument.
"I didn't mean to. My feet just..."
"Your feet." The corner of his mouth twitches. "Your feet brought you down here with a prop folder because they wanted to see me?"
"That's not..." But it is, and we both know it, and the amusement in his expression makes me want to either kiss him or punch him. I'm horrified that both options feel equally appealing.
His thumb traces down my jaw to my chin and tips my face up. "You don't need an excuse to come to my office, firefly. You don't need a folder or a question or a reason. You just knock."
"That's a terrible idea and you know it."
"I know it's what you want." His thumb presses against my lower lip, light enough that I could pull away. The warmth of the contact spreads through my mouth and down my throat and settles somewhere behind my ribs. "And I know it took you three tries to work up the nerve, because my assistant told me you've been haunting the elevator bank all morning."
"Your assistant is a snitch."
"My assistant isobservant." He drops his hand and steps back. My body sways toward the space he just vacated before I catch myself, and the inch I lean tells us both everything my mouth is refusing to say.
"Go back to your desk, Mattaniah. Finish your work." His voice shifts into something that sounds like dismissal but carries a different promise underneath. "And when you're done for the day, come find me again." He turns back to his monitor like he didn't just rearrange my entire afternoon with a few words .
"And next time," he adds without looking up, "don't bring a prop. It's insulting to both of us."
My face is still burning when the elevator doors close. I press my cold hands against my cheeks for the entire forty-second ride but the flush won't cooperate, so by the time I reach my desk I've accepted that I'm just going to look like this for the rest of the day.
