Page 30 of My CEO Neighbor
Chapter Seven
Ted
The elevator lurched upward with a mechanical whir that sounded like salvation and damnation rolled into one.Monica tensed against him as the car began its smooth ascent, emergency lighting giving way to the harsh fluorescent glare of normal operation.
Reality crashed over him like ice water.
He was half-dressed in a broken elevator with his neighbor, the taste of her still on his lips and the scent of sex heavy in the recycled air.His hair was completely fucked, his shirt wrinkled beyond repair, and he was pretty sure he had Monica's lipstick somewhere on his throat.
Enhanced Chapter Seven
Ted
The elevator lurched upward with a mechanical whir that sounded like salvation and damnation rolled into one.Monica tensed against him as the car began its smooth ascent, emergency lighting giving way to the harsh fluorescent glare of normal operation.
Reality crashed over him like ice water.
He was half-dressed in a broken elevator with his neighbor, the taste of her still on his lips and the scent of sex heavy in the recycled air.His hair was completely fucked, his shirt wrinkled beyond repair, and he was pretty sure he had Monica's lipstick somewhere on his throat.
More importantly, he'd just had the most incredible sexual experience of his life with a woman who represented everything he'd spent three years avoiding—distraction, emotional complexity, the kind of connection that made men forget their priorities.
"Shit," Ted muttered, running a hand through his hair and immediately regretting the movement when it made him acutely aware of how thoroughly Monica had wrecked his composure.
"What?"Monica asked, but her voice carried a new tension that hadn't been there moments before.
"Nothing.Just..."Ted gestured vaguely at the elevator buttons, now glowing their normal colors."We're moving."
The understatement hung between them like a barrier.They were moving, which meant rescue, which meant returning to their separate lives and dealing with the consequences of what had just happened between them.
Ted's phone buzzed against his leg—multiple notifications flooding in as service returned.He pulled it out automatically, muscle memory overriding conscious thought, and immediately wished he hadn't.
Seventeen missed calls from Jennifer.Twelve text messages.Six voicemails from investors, including two from Dexter Capital.
The Dexter meeting.The meeting that was supposed to change everything, that he'd spent three months preparing for, that represented the difference between success and catastrophic failure.
Ted checked the time and felt his stomach drop.Six-thirty p.m.The meeting had been scheduled for two-thirty.He'd missed it.Completely, utterly, irrevocably missed the most important business meeting of his career.
And for the first time in his adult life, he couldn't bring himself to care.
The realization should have sent him into panic mode, should have triggered the familiar rush of adrenaline that accompanied every crisis.Instead, he felt nothing.Not relief, exactly, but not the crushing anxiety he'd expected either.
"We should get dressed," he said, his voice already shifting into something more distant, more controlled.
