Page 17 of Addicted

Hugh was everything I needed. The realization hit me like a sack of potatoes to the face.

That was the other thing about my panic attacks, they usually came with some lightbulb moment of realization that my brain couldn’t comprehend until it was soaked in adrenaline.

The first time I’d had a panic attack, I was thirteen. I started hyperventilating over graduation as I realized myfather was never coming back home. That I’d never see him again. I passed out in the middle of the lunchroom. I’d had a lot since then, but none around other people.

Hugh held me as I fought the urge to relax into him. We were blurring the line. I couldn’t saddle him with all my shit, that’s not what he signed up for.

“I’m going to try and take a cat nap before the staff meeting.”

I needed to get out, to get away from him, away from everyone.

Sleep sounded like the perfect way to reset my brain. If it wasn’t for Lucian dropping this project on us, I’d have gone home. But how bad would it look if the billion-dollar man gave me the opportunity of a lifetime and I just left? No, I had to suck it up. I could do this.

I stood and Hugh stood with me.

When I reached down to grab my bag, Hugh grabbed my hand and brought it to his mouth, placing a kiss against my palm.

“Thank you for being vulnerable with me,” he whispered.

Unexpectedly, my stomach somersaulted once and then twice. Before I could think better of it, my fingers moved to his cheek, feeling the coarseness of his beard beneath my touch.

“Thank you for letting me be vulnerable,” the words were barely there, but I meant them.Maybe I was wrong.Maybe he wanted to be this for me, not out of obligation, but because he cared.

If I wasn’t careful, I was going to get addicted to this man. Something told me I’d never get him out of my system if I did.

CHAPTER 8

DENISE

The staff meeting was—awkward… The whole team was crowded in the lobby as Lucian spoke. Thankfully, the man was eighteen feet tall, so everyone got a good look at him as he announced that Hugh and I were partnering on the new H1 client. I was glad the nap had worked because standing there was uncomfortable. I could hear a few whispers among the crowd, speculating and gossiping about the scandalous turn of events.

It was Xavier’s job. The Chief Operating Partner had been doing it for as long as I’d been at Foxx and probably long before I arrived.

I looked over at Xavier in a dated banker-blue suit. He was trying his best not to look aggrieved as all one hundred people in the office glanced in his direction. He didn’t say a word and he didn’t have to. The rage in his eyes was clear and pretty scary.

Once Lucian changed the conversation to holiday schedules and PTO, I happened to look over at Xavier and saw him bouncing his murderous gaze toward Hugh and then me. I tried to ignore it, but after the fifth time, I glanced up and found myself looking right at him.

I don’t know if it was the bitch in me, the power nap I’d just taken, or the Zen drugs flowing through me, but I gave him a little finger wave. His face turned beet red, and I bit my lip to stop the smile, turning my attention back to the HR lead talking.Thankfully, that was the last agenda item.

As we all started to walk back to our desks, I saw Hugh heading right for me. Uh oh.

“Your office.”

He led the way, and I followed behind him, confused.

I watched as he shut the door firmly behind me and narrowed his eyes.

“Tell me you’re high. Are you high?”

My face must’ve shown my confusion because he continued.

“He could destroy you and you’re taunting him?”

I scoffed. “Oh, I think you’re being a bit dramatic.”

“Xavier isn’t some nobody, he’s got half of the Saint Francis Yacht Club on speed dial,” Hugh said, dropping the name of the most exclusive club in the city.

“I am pretty sure they don’t say the full name like that.”

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