Her eyes would linger on him during meetings, and she found excuses to bring him documents that could have been emailed, always accompanied by some thoughtful gesture or comment designed to show how well she understood his preferences.
Victoria watched these interactions with growing alarm, recognizing the signs of a woman actively pursuing the man Victoria considered hers. James, with his effortlessly handsome features and natural charisma, was needlessly attracting these bees wherever he went, and Victoria felt it was her duty to ward them off before they could do any real damage to what remained of their relationship.
"Your coffee, Mr. Mitchell," Gaia would say each morning, her voice carrying a warmth that spoke of feelings beyond mere professional courtesy. "I noticed you seemed tired yesterday, so I made it a little stronger today."
Victoria watched these interactions with growing alarm, recognizing the signs of a woman actively pursuing the man Victoria considered hers. The insecurity that followed was overwhelming and irrational, but Victoria found herself unable to control it.
"James," Victoria had said one afternoon, her voice carefully casual as she interrupted his review of quarterly reports. "If you ever feel the urge to... release stress... you should come straight to me."
The words hung in the air like a bomb waiting to explode. James stared at her, his expression shifting from confusion to disbelief to something approaching horror.
"What did you just say?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.
Victoria's cheeks flushed as she realized how her offer had sounded, but she pressed forward with desperate determination. "I just meant that if you need... if you want..."
"It will never happen," James cut her off, his voice deep with finality. "And even if I did need that kind of stress relief, I certainly wouldn't come to you."
The rejection hit Victoria like a physical blow. Her heart seemed to drop into her stomach as a terrible thought took root in her mind. If he didn't want her, if he found her advances repulsive, then did that mean he found Gaia attractive? The possibility sent waves of panic and jealousy through her system.
Without conscious thought, Victoria turned James's chair toward her, her hands framing his face as she captured his lips in a kiss that was both desperate and calculated. She poured everything she had into the contact; her love, days of longing, and the terrifying possibility that she might lose him to someone else.
James's response was immediate and involuntary. Victoria had always been a skilled kisser, and she used every technique at her disposal to break down his defenses. For a moment, she felt him begin to sink into the kiss, his body responding to the familiar intimacy despite his emotional resistance.
But before she could claim victory, James pulled back sharply, wiping his wet lips with the back of his hand as his eyes blazed with anger.
"What the hell was that?" he began, but his words were interrupted by a small, shaky voice from the office doorway.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt..."
Gaia stood frozen in the entrance, her face pale with shock and hurt. She had clearly witnessed the kiss, and the devastation in her eyes spoke of dreams suddenly shattered. The coffee cup in her hands trembled as she processed what she had seen.
James looked at her with surprise and concern, clearing his throat as he tried to salvage the situation. "Gaia, please come in..."
"I'm so sorry," Gaia interrupted, her voice breaking as she backed toward the door. "I should have knocked. I'll just... I'll come back later."
She turned and fled before James could stop her, leaving behind an uncomfortable silence that seemed to stretch forever.
James started to rise, intending to go after his distressed employee, but Victoria's hands immediately locked around his arm, holding him in place with surprising strength.
"Let me go, Victoria," James said, his voice low and controlled but vibrating with anger.
"James, I..."
"Why did you do that?" he snapped, keeping his voice quiet but unable to hide his fury. "You knew she was coming, didn't you? You saw her approaching and timed that kiss perfectly."
Victoria's eyes widened with carefully manufactured innocence. "How could I have known she was coming? I can't see through walls. Your words just got to me, and I reacted emotionally. I'm sorry if the timing was bad."
James studied her face, recognizing the calculating mind behind her seemingly impulsive actions. If there was one thing he understood about Victoria, it was that she rarely acted without purpose, even when her actions appeared spontaneous.
"I warned you about touching me," James said, his voice growing colder. "Now I'm warning you about kissing me. Don't do it again."
Victoria shrugged with feigned casualness. "They're my lips. I can kiss whoever I want."
The response was so similar to her earlier deflection about touching him that James felt his patience snap completely. "And it's my body," he countered sharply. "I can choose who I want to kiss, touch, or love. You don't get to make those decisions for me."
He pulled his arm free from her grasp, moving his chair away from her as he continued. "You promised you would behave, that you would listen to me. But you broke that promise within hours. This is exactly why I can never trust your words, Victoria. This is why nothing you say means anything to me anymore."
James turned back to his work with deliberate finality, burying himself in documents as if Victoria had ceased to exist. The coldness of his dismissal was more painful than any angry words could have been.
Victoria felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them back with stubborn determination. She couldn't tell him that she had recognized the signs of Gaia's infatuation, couldn't admit that her kiss had been a calculated territorial display designed to eliminate a perceived threat. She couldn't explain that the thought of him developing feelings for another woman was more terrifying than his anger or distrust.
Her selfish action had only served to reinforce his worst opinions of her, driving another wedge between them just when she had been hoping to build bridges. But even as she sat there, watching the rigid set of his shoulders and the careful way he avoided looking at her, Victoria knew she would rather endure his coldness than risk losing him to someone else.
The war for James's heart was far from over, and Victoria was prepared to use any weapon at her disposal to win it, even if those weapons only served to push him further away.