Elena's POV
After that night — the kiss — everything changed, even if no one else could see it.
Adrian stopped meeting my eyes for more than a second.
Stopped walking beside me.
Stopped letting his voice soften when he said my name.
But it wasn't distance. Not really. It was restraint.
Like he was holding himself back from something dangerous.
Something real.
And maybe that's what scared me most — knowing that underneath all that control, Adrian Knight wasn't untouchable anymore. Not to me.
---
It was a Thursday afternoon — the kind that felt endless.
The office was buzzing with tension, deadlines stacking one over another, and I hadn't eaten since morning.
I was rushing across the hall with a stack of reports when it happened.
A careless intern turned too fast, spilling hot coffee straight onto my wrist.
The burn was sharp — I gasped, dropping the papers, my eyes stinging.
Before I could even process it, a voice cut through the noise.
Low. Dangerous. Familiar.
"What the hell happened here?"
Adrian.
He was across the room in seconds — suit jacket off, eyes blazing, jaw clenched so tightly I could see the muscle tick in his cheek.
"Sir, I—" the intern stammered.
But Adrian's voice silenced everything around us.
"Don't you have eyes? Look what you've done."
The entire floor froze.
His hand was already on mine, his thumb brushing over the reddened skin. His eyes softened only for a heartbeat before darkening again, fury written across every line of his face.
"Adrian, it's fine," I whispered, trying to calm him. "It was an accident—"
He looked up, his gaze sharp, cutting through my words.
"No one hurts what's mine."
The words hit me harder than the burn.
What's mine.
He didn't even seem to realize he'd said it — not until the silence stretched long and heavy between us.
My heart was pounding so fast it almost hurt. His thumb was still tracing the edge of my wrist, and that small, protective touch felt far too intimate for an office full of people.
"Let's get you to the infirmary," he muttered finally, his voice quieter now. "You're shaking."
He didn't let anyone else near me.
He carried the reports himself, walked me down the hall, his hand at the small of my back like a silent claim.
Inside the infirmary, the nurse wrapped the burn gently, talking about ointments and rest, but I barely heard her.
I could only hear him — his voice, low and controlled, whispering to me like the world outside didn't exist.
"Does it hurt?"
"Not much," I lied.
His eyes met mine. "You're a terrible liar."
I smiled faintly. "You're a terrible boss."
Something softened in his expression — the kind of softness that made me forget how dangerous this was.
He reached out, brushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering just a second too long.
"Elena," he said quietly. "You make me lose control. Do you know that?"
I couldn't answer.
Because I felt it too — that pull, that gravity that wouldn't let go.
He looked down, exhaled sharply, and straightened up again, pulling the mask of the CEO back over himself.
"I'll have your workload reduced for the week," he said finally. "And… stay away from that intern."
"Adrian—"
His tone dropped. "Please, just listen."
It wasn't an order. It was a plea.
And in that moment, I realized something that terrified me — Adrian Knight, the man everyone saw as unshakable, was shaking because of me.
He didn't know how to handle what he felt, so he buried it under power, under rules, under that cold, perfect mask he wore for the world.
But beneath it all, I'd seen it.
I'd felt it.
His weakness… was me.
And I wasn't sure whether that made me lucky — or doomed.