Which brings me here.
I’m on the thirty-second floor, one of the busiest departments in H Industries. This floor holds marketing, finance, and hundreds of employees who barely get a glimpse of me unless I’m addressing the board.
Yet now, with every step I take through the cafeteria, I can feel their eyes on me.
I don’t have to listen closely to know what they’re thinking.
What is the boss doing here? Why isn’t he locked away in his shrine of an office?
I ignore them.
Because there’s only one reason I’m here.
And she’s standing across the room.
The second I step inside, my eyes lock onto her.
Lila.
Rather than the cold, emotionless face she gave me earlier, right now she’s smiling.
No, laughing.
And not just a forced, polite laugh. It’s a real one. Unrestrained. Soft. Like she belongs here. Like she’s at ease with the people around her. With them.
Not with me.
And fuck, it hits me square in the chest.
I should look away.
I don’t.
I should turn around and go back to my office.
I don’t.
Instead, I watch, my body wound too tight, too aware of the way she tilts her head back, eyes crinkling as she laughs at something some asshole in a tie just said.
My wolf growls.
The sound rumbles through my chest, demanding I move.
She’s ours.
My fingers twitch at my sides.
I want to lock up that smile so it only ever belongs to me.
I want to fire the man who dared to put it there.
I want to close the distance, tilt her chin up, and remind her exactly what that mouth feels like against mine.
And for one reckless second, I almost do.
Almost.
“Mr. Hells, can you hear me?”