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From:Mr. Jaxon Cole
Subject:First Briefing – 3:00 PM
Location:Conference Room 12B (Top Floor)
Just us.
The “just us” is implied. I can FEEL it.
I stare at the screen, horrified.
I whisper: “…I’m not emotionally stable enough for this.”
Ava whispers back from literally nowhere: “No one asked you to be.”
I slam my forehead onto my desk.
I’m doomed.
JAXON
She hasn’t stopped thinking about me all day.
I know because she hasn’t made eye contact once when I’ve passed her floor. She stiffens. She turns away. She pretends to work harder.
People who are unaffected make eye contact.
Ruby Quinn? She trembles.
I sit at my desk and look over the project outline, but really, I’m thinking about her.
How she looked in the elevator.
How she whispereddon’twhen I stepped closer… but didn’t move away.
How she breathed my name in the hallway.
How she looked at me when the announcement was made, shocked, flustered, shaken.
Perfect.
Not because I enjoy her fear. God no.
Because I enjoy the way she fights her own desire.
She wants this. She wantsme.
She just doesn’t trust what it means yet.
I’m patient.
But I’m not passive.
I schedule the first session deliberately.
Conference Room 12B. Top floor. Soundproof. Private. Neutral but intimate.
