I slide off the bar, my feet finding the floor. Rowan stays still while I straighten my clothes, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, unsure where to put them now. The loss of contact leaves my skin cold, but I welcome the chill as clarity.
“Okay, let’s talk.” He steps back, the flush of desire still coloring his cheeks, but his amber eyes clear as he regains control. “Say what you need to say.”
My belt buckle clinks as I refasten it, the sound loud in the quiet room, while fallen napkins slip beneath my shoes.
“You don’t get to decide what’s best for me,” I say,trying to convey everything he took from me. “Not personally. Not professionally. Not without consulting me.”
Rowan releases a slow breath, as if he’s trying to keep himself contained. “I canceled one job.One.Because you were coming out of a Heat and struggling to stand.”
“That’s not the point, so stop pretending you don’t understand.” I dig my back into the edge of the bar, the pressure reminding me to stay calm. “You made a decision about my work based on our private relationship.”
His jaw flexes. “I made a decision because I could see you pushing past your limits.”
“You didn’t ask me, though,” I say, forcing the reality of what he did out into the open. “You didn’t consult me. You didn’t treat me like a professional partner. You treated me like someone fragile you needed to manage.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s accurate.” I take a step closer, forcing him to meet me on equal ground instead of looming over me. “What happens in your bed does not give you authority over my career. My body is mine. My work is mine. Those lines do not blur just because we sleep together.”
Rowan’s shoulders tighten, tension radiating through him. “You were suffering.”
“No, I was trusting you enough to allow myself to be spoiled for once in my life, and you took that moment of vulnerability as proof I wasn’t capable of doing my job.” My gut clenches as I force the words out. “How am I supposed to let my guard down when we’re together if you use it against me?”
Silence stretches.
“If you can’t keep those boundaries,” I say, laying the truth down and refusing to soften it, “we don’t work. Not as partners. Not as anything.”
His hands clench. “I was protecting you.”
“From what? From taking risks? From my own judgment?” Afternoon light spills through the darkened windows, long shadows crawling across the floor as dust motes hang suspended in the sunlit air. “I survived on my own long before you came into my life. I don’t need your protection. I need your respect.”
“I do respect you.” Rowan’s hands open in a gesture that’s almost supplication. “That’s not what this was about.”
“Then what was it about?” I push off from the bar, standing on my own power. “Tell me why youcanceled the job without consulting me. Without telling me until I found out myself.”
His tongue drags across his lower lip before he speaks, choosing each word with care. “This isn’t only about us. You keep framing it as me crossing a personal boundary. I’m telling you I made a professional call.”
My chin lifts. “A professional call based on personal information.”
“A professional call based on performance.” There’s no defensiveness, only certainty. “You weren’t operating at full capacity. I would have pulled anyone else on my crew for the same reason.”
I stiffen. “So I’m just another employee now?”
“You can’t have it both ways, Ash.” Rowan shakes his head in frustration. “Either I make decisions based on business, or I blur the line.”
My mouth opens, but he doesn’t give me a chance to break in. “Both versions end the same, though. I’m responsible for my crew, and that responsibility doesn’t disappear because you’re sharing my bed.”
“That responsibility doesn’t erase my autonomy, either.”
“I didn’t erase it.” He takes a breath to force himself to stay calm. “You’re free to walk away from any job you want. But when you’re working underme, I make final calls when someone isn’t in peak condition.”
Silence stretches, heavy and charged.
“I need a partner,” I say, quieter now but no less firm. “Not someone who decides when I’m capable.”
“And I need you to understand that being your partner doesn’t mean I stop being in charge of the crew.” Rowan never wavers. “If Orien showed up compromised, I’d pull him. If Ghost tried to work sick, I’d send him home. This wasn’t only about you.”
“It felt like it.”
