I turned away, trying to find glimpses of her reflection in the glass as her heels clicked behind me, as if dancing on the marble floor that separated restraint from ruin.
“Morning, Sir,” she said softly, her voice low and cool like a silk ribbon sliding over skin. She placed a neat stack of files on my desk. “I’m sure you already know, but you’ve got a meeting withScent Magazinein thirty minutes. The reporter—Patrick James—is already waiting in Boardroom A.”
I didn’t turn. Didn’t answer right away.
“And?” I said eventually, voice low and deliberate.
“Let him wait,” she replied with such nonchalance in her voice I didn’t need to look at her to see her shrug. “They’ve already tried smearing your name three times. Four if you count the fundraiser ball your foundation threw six months ago.”
“And we’re counting that, are we?”
“Of course. It was a fundraiser for sick children and somehow, they still spoke as though you were spreading yourdemonic influence.”
“Influence, yes. Demonic—well,” I paused, my tone deadpan, “comes with my nature, I suppose.”
“And look who came crawling back the second you were named ‘Most Eligible Bachelor.’ Suddenly he wants a seat at the demon’s table. Let him sweat. Grab a coffee. Be late. Let him know you don’t chase.”
A chuckle unfurled from my chest as I finally turned toward her. I caught her gaze—direct, unflinching—and arch a brow.
I don’t chase… normally that assessment would be correct. But if she were to run, especially now, would I chase? Would I hunt her?
“And they sayI’mthe demon,” I murmured.
She smiled. Just a little.
Just when I thought I was able to maintain my principles, she lifted her left hand to push her glasses up and that’s when I saw it. Her small engagement ring was gone. And Underworld help me, I felt something unravel.
“I learned from the best.”
Her eyes flicked down for just a second.
Mine did not.
They trailed the curve of her hips, up to her lips—plump, parted, unknowingly inviting.
“Anyway,” she said quickly, dragging me back from the edge. “He’s waiting. Is there anything I can do for you before your meeting?”
Yes.
So many things.
None of which I’m allowed to say.
All of which would have my ass in HR, before the board of directors, and on the front page before a gasp could leave those lips.
Fuck.
“That will be all, Harper,” I barely managed to say over the tightness in my chest. These blockers better work. I took enough for about five younglings.
She nods, turning with that subtle sway that was anything but accidental. She walked away like sin in motion. And if she wished to live in sin, as a Hellborne I feel like it would be my responsibility to punish her.
The glass door shut quietly as she returned to her desk just outside, her back to me. Unintentional, surely. But every time she bent over that disaster of paperwork, I get a front-row seat to temptation.
She had no idea how close she walked to the edge.
How easy it would be to reach out, just once, and—
No.
