Page 44 of As the World Falls

She seems oddly disappointed by that, and even more oddly, I wish I hadn’t said any of it either. “When should I go?” she asks in a colder tone, which also didn’t sit right with me.

“Now,” I tell her and watch silently as she gathers her things and leaves my office without another word. When I thought I’d be relieved that she’s gone, I’m filled with another feeling entirely. It was something I’d never felt before, and it felt like an invasion in my body, like the feeling didn’t belong there and didn’t fit quite right either. It felt like…longing. I was looking at the chair in front of my desk, and I, strangely enough, wanted her back in it even if all she did was scrutinize me from it.

I close my eyes, her face coming to mind. How wide her scared eyes were when she tracked the blood on my face and the way she was frozen to her spot. The way her chest rose and fell so quickly as I leaned over her. The way her fingers bunched her dress in them, holding onto it so tightly that the fabric slid up her thighs, exposing more of her skin to my view.

I was going to replay that image of her in my head for the rest of the night…fuck…probably the rest of the month.

The rest of the day drags on painfully slow. Knowing she was in this building with me was aggravating when I couldn’t see her or, rather, keep an eye on her. I was getting regular check-ins from the head of the design department, letting me know she was getting along well, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to see her. I couldn’t help needing to remind her that I was still here, watching her as much as she was watching me.

Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to check in and see the designer’s progress. She seemed to inspire them in the last meeting, so hopefully, she was more inspiration today. As for me, I was going to ignore the little fact that she seemed to be a guiding light for my employees.

I take the elevator down to the design department and stop just at the open entryway, peering into the large room that satclose to thirty people, several desks lined against the walls that sat two people at each one, all of them working closely together. The room was alive and full of creation. Everyone was talking with each other and bouncing around ideas. Sketches were being passed around, and a giant board had themes and inspirational keywords written on them.

I find Cecilia in the mass, sitting at one of the tables in the corner of the room, but it’s the figure leaning over her that has me more interested. Greg, the head of the department, has his hand resting on the back of her chair as he bends over her, pointing to whatever they are looking at on the table. She’s nodding along and pointing at things, even speaking as if this is something she’s done her whole life.

He bends closer to her, their faces coming together, and he says something I can’t decipher. My stomach knots when a small laugh escapes her and the way he looks at her mouth as she does.

All logic leaves me.

I stride into the room, not stopping until I reach her desk. The room has gone mostly silent now, and I suspect everyone’s eyes are on me, but I don’t care. I only care that Greg’s eyes are burned out of his skull.

“Play times over, Cecilia. I need you back in my office,” I demand before she ever notices my presence.

She looks up at me, as does Greg, who now stands at full height. “Mr. Kingston,” he greets me. “Cecilia’s making wonderful progress here. We just decided on?—”

“I trust you to handle it,” I interrupt him, looking back to her now. “Let’s go.”

She sticks up her nose at me. “You came all the way down here yourself to get me?”

I nearly bite a hole into my lip. I don’t miss how everyone’s eyes widen in surprise as she speaks to me. “I did,” I answer with an unmissable sharpness to my tone. “Now get up, and let’s go.”

She narrows her eyes on me for a long second as if she were trying to dominate me, but then she stands up and begrudgingly follows me out of the room. The second she’s out of it and walking behind me in the hall, it’s like the oppressive tension in that room finally leaves my body, and I can breathe again. I’d never once felt that way in my own building, which further proves she doesn’t need to be here.

“So, what is it you need me for now?” she calls out behind me.

I stop in front of the elevator and press hard on the up button. “I want coffee.”

“You came all the way down here so I can get you coffee instead of doing it yourself?”

I shrugged, walking into the elevator, pleased when she followed right behind me. “I like the way you make it.”

“All I do is dump a sugar packet into it. That’s literally it.”

“You do it well.”

“You’re unbelievable,” she grumbles.

I smirk. “Ready to quit yet?”

Her frown drops uncomfortably fast into a sly smile. “Not a chance.”

The elevator dings and opens, and the second it does, I see Alan looking down at his phone, waiting to get on. Cecilia’s eyes widened in recognition, and I hurried to the front of the elevator, pressing the button to shut the doors. Alan looks up, ready to step on, and stops, coming face to face with me.

“Apologies, Alan. This lifts full,” I say as his eyes bounce to the empty spaces around me, hopefully not spotting Cecilia directly behind me. Then, the doors close again.

I breathe in relief when they do, just as Cecilia says, “Do you think he recognized me?”

Irrational anger bolts through me at the reminder of them all cozied up at the banquet Saturday night. Was there a man in this God-forsaken building who could keep their eyes off her?

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