“Go ahead up,” he said, nodding toward the elevators. “I need to have a quick word with security about a matter. I’ll be right behind you.”
She nodded. “Good thinking. We shouldn’t arrive together anyway, people will wonder.”
The moment the elevator doors closed behind her, he turned and strode toward the flower shop. The impulse took over—he had to get her flowers. Not just any flowers.
“Sunflowers,” he said to the florist before she could even greet him properly. “The brightest ones you have.”
The woman smiled as she selected a vibrant bunch. “Someone special?”
“Very,” he said without hesitation, surprising himself with how easily the admission came.
The elevator ride up gave him time to second-guess the purchase, but when the doors opened and he saw her at her desk, arranging files with that focused expression he’d come to love, he knew he’d made the right choice.
Sunflowers. Bright and bold and her favorite.
He walked to her desk, aware that half the office was watching.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice low as he set the sunflowers down. “For everything.”
Her eyes widened, then her cheeks flushed pink. “You didn’t have to?—”
“I wanted to,” he said.
Their fingers brushed when she reached for the flowers, and the small contact sent electricity straight through him.
This was going to be impossible.
“Mr. Wilder,” she said, her voice composed and businesslike. “You have the Beauchamp call at ten, and the quarterly review meeting at two.”
“Of course,” he said. “And Devney?”
“Yes, sir?”
The formality was killing him. “Excellent work yesterday. Taking care of things.”
The double meaning wasn’t lost on either of them. He had to force himself to turn away before he did anything unprofessional like kiss her in front of the entire office.
As he headed to his office, he heard Knox’s laughter echoing down the hallway.
Yes, this was going to be a problem.
But as he settled behind his desk and caught sight of Devney arranging the sunflowers in a vase, her face soft with pleasure, he found he didn’t care about problems or obstacles or the structured routine he’d built his life around.
Some things were worth the chaos.
And she was worth everything.
The morning slipped by in a flurry of emails, meetings, and phone calls. But no matter how focused he tried to be, his eyes kept drifting through the glass wall of his office to her desk, where she sat working with the sunflowers brightening her workspace.
Every interaction felt charged. When she brought him coffee, her fingers lingered against his as she passed him the cup. When she leaned over his desk to point out a detail in a report, he caught the scent of her perfume and remembered how it had clung to his sheets that morning.
By lunchtime, he was losing his mind.
Knox appeared in his doorway, arms crossed and wearing a knowing smirk. “So. Interesting development with you and Devney.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, not looking up from his computer screen.
“Right.” Knox stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. “Half the office is convinced you two are sleeping together.”
