Page 51 of Guarded King

The urge to stake a claim on a woman who isn’t mine—who will never be mine—is ridiculous.

Chloe shoots me a glance over her shoulder, her brow furrowing as she sees how close behind her I am.

“We’re leaving, Miss Callahan.”

Ethan grimaces at my tone, but schools his expression quickly and focuses back on Chloe. “That card has my personal cell number on it. Call me if you want to get together for a drink sometime.”

The guy’s got balls, I’ll give him that.

The base of my skull starts to pound at the thought of her going on a date with him. Of him touching her when I can’t.

“Thank you, I will,” she says, inspecting the card in her hand. There’s hesitation in her voice, like maybe she isn’t sure how tohandle being asked out while she’s at work—or at least with her boss standing right behind her.

I’d also like to think it’s because she has no interest in Ethan. He might be relatively attractive in that preppy kind of way, but I can’t imagine him being her type.

She needs someone stronger than Ethan. A man who’ll look after her while she’s too busy looking after her dad to do it herself. Better still, a man who can look after both of them. One who can show her the world, who can give her everything she’ll ever need or want, because she’ll sacrifice those things to make sure others get theirs.

A man like me.

I grit my teeth. Clearly, my increasing obsession with my assistant is making me crazy. I have no business thinking shit like that. I’m the last man she needs.

A louder growl of thunder rattles the windows, shaking me out of my ridiculous thoughts. It’s time to get back to the office. Depending on the traffic, I might send Chloe straight home with Phillip from there. I don’t want her catching the bus or walking in this weather.

I lean in, tilting my head close to hers. “Let’s go.”

Without a word to Ethan, I follow Chloe to the elevators.

Once we’re inside, I press the down button, and as we start to descend, I step back until I’m standing next to her.

“That seemed to go well.” She smiles up at me.

“It did. If things go to plan, we may consider partnering with them on other?—”

The lights in the elevator flicker, drawing my focus up to them.

Chloe lets out a nervous laugh. “I hope it’s not going to?—”

The stainless-steel car shudders to a halt, and an instant later, the lights go out, plunging us into darkness.

Beside me, Chloe lets out a little shriek.

Immediately, I reach for her, my hand finding her trembling shoulder. “The backup system should come on any moment.”

“Okay,” she says, her voice shaky.

We wait in silence, but after several seconds, when it’s still pitch black and the elevator hasn’t moved, I feel around for the emergency call button. Pressing it does nothing. The whole system must be down.

“Why isn’t the backup system kicking in?” Chloe asks.

“If I had to hazard a guess,” I say with a frustrated sigh. “Bad timing. This is a brand-new building; the uninterrupted power supply probably hasn’t been calibrated properly yet.”

The blackness filling the small space is all-encompassing. She’s so quiet now that if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was alone. All I hear is the sound of my own breaths in my ears. “Chloe?”

“Yes.” Her voice is shaky again, the quiver stronger this time.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her tone contradicts the sentiment.

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