Page 123 of Their Arrangement
The stockings whispered.
The heels sang.
And me?
I was no longer Cloe from the shadows.
I was a siren made of satin and ache.
The Lawlor lobby gleamed with polished marble and polished people. But when I walked through the doors? The world stilled.
Heads turned. Not all. But enough. A pause at the front desk. A flicker from the man holding a paper. The woman waiting for her oat milk latte blinked too long. And I felt it.
The quiet shock of being looked at not like a mistake—but like a problem someone wanted to solve with their hands.
I didn’t flinch. Didn’t slow. I walked. Poised. Composed. Even as my pulse knocked hard against my ribs. The elevator doors opened with a whisper.
And there she was.
Me.
Reflected in mirrored glass.
A full-length reminder that I wasn’t playing a role anymore. The woman in the reflection? She didn’t just look beautiful. She lookeddangerous. And no one in that building would forget it.
I fixed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. And smiled. When I stepped onto the executive floor, the shift was immediate.
The air was different. Charged. Still. Like the floor had taken a breath—and forgot to let it go.
Eyes lifted. Not just assistants. Not just admin. Security. Executives. People who hadn’t noticed me before.
Now?
They noticed.
Because I looked like I didn’t care if they did. And that kind of confidence? It smells like blood to men who like to bite.
Royal was the first to speak.
He spotted me mid-conversation—some polished man in a navy suit suddenly forgotten. Royal turned like I was gravity.
Grinned.
Stalked.
AndGod, he enjoyed every second of it.
He moved behind me, that lazy swagger oozing control, his breath close to my neck like sin pressed to silk.
“Well, well,well,” he murmured. “Look who decided to make the whole fucking building hard before nine a.m.”
I didn’t turn.
“Good morning,” I said softly.
“Oh, it isnow.”
I left him there. Because I could. Because the echo of my heels said more than his mouth ever could.
