The lobby was loud with Monday chaos heels clacking sharply across marble, phones ringing, someone arguing with security near the elevators but Aria heard none of it. All she could hear was the rush of her own breath as she hurried inside, tugging her coat tighter against the cold drizzle soaking her shoulders.
She was already late.
And she hated being late.
Especially today.
She darted toward the sign-in desk, head down, trying to balance her tablet, her bag, and her nerves. If she made it upstairs in the next three minutes, she could still pretend everything was under control.
But fate had a different idea.
Her shoulder collided with something solid no, not something… someone and the impact jolted her balance. Her tablet wobbled. Her bag slipped. She cursed under her breath.
"Hey! Watch where you're" she snapped, lifting her head.
And froze.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark suit tailored so perfectly it looked like a sin. The kind of face that didn't belong in real-world morning chaos—sharp jawline, a mouth that looked like it rarely smiled, and eyes… God, those eyes. Dark. Steady. Way too observant.
She hated immediately how attractive he was.
His brows lifted slightly, amused. "You ran into me," he said calmly.
Her irritation flared. "You stepped in my way."
"Did I?" His voice was quiet, confident, warm in a way that made something low in her stomach tighten.
She tried to move around him, shifting right.
He mirrored her.
She stepped left.
So did he.
Her frustration spiked. "Seriously?"
He didn't look sorry at all. If anything, the corner of his mouth twitched like he enjoyed watching her get annoyed.
Aria crossed her arms. "Are you doing that on purpose?"
His gaze dropped briefly to her lips, she noticed with a jolt before returning to her eyes.
"No," he said. "But I'd apologize if it makes you feel better."
A beat. "Does it?"
Everything about him felt like a challenge. He wasn't raising his voice. He wasn't smirking outright. But the way he stood relaxed, utterly unbothered made her pulse spike with irritation and something else she refused to name.
She exhaled sharply. "I'm late."
"Then by all means," he said, stepping aside but slowly, as if waltzing rather than moving.
Aria shot him a glare and hurried past, but she didn't get far.
Her heel hit a wet patch on the marble.
Her breath caught as her ankle twisted
but before she hit the ground, a strong hand wrapped around her wrist, steadying her with startling force.
Her body collided with his, chest to chest. Hard muscle. Warmth. The faint scent of expensive cologne, clean and dark, curled around her senses, tightening everything inside her.
Her pulse jumped violently.
He leaned in just enough that his breath grazed her ear. "Careful," he murmured, voice lower now, almost intimate. "I'd hate to see you break this early in the morning."
Heat shot down her spine.
Her throat felt tight, too tight, and it took a second too long before she whispered, "Let go."
His fingers didn't obey at first.
He held her a moment longer than necessary.
A moment long enough for her heartbeat to betray her.
Long enough for his thumb to graze the inside of her wrist soft, accidental… or not accidental at all.
Finally, he released her, and the loss hit harder than it should have.
She straightened quickly, trying to fix her expression into something neutral, but her body was still buzzing from the contact.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yes," she said too fast.
His eyes softened slightly, like he didn't believe her. But he said nothing more, simply stepped back and nodded.
She brushed a strand of damp hair behind her ear and walked away.
No escaped.
But even as she moved toward the elevators, she felt his gaze lingering on her back. It felt like a hand between her shoulder blades, warm and unsettling.
She didn't look back.
Absolutely not.
Even if she wanted to.
The elevator ride felt endless, her heartbeat refusing to settle. She hated that a stranger an annoyingly attractive one had shaken her so easily.
By the time the doors opened on the top floor, she had shoved the encounter into a mental box labeled Do Not Think About.
She walked briskly down the hallway, adjusted her blouse, smoothed her expression, and pushed open the meeting room door and froze.
The stranger was standing at the head of the long conference table.
Talking with the board.
Discussing numbers.
Exuding the kind of effortless authority that said he belonged here far more than she did.
He turned at the sound of the door.
And those dark eyes found her instantly.
Recognition flickered.
Followed by something else something warm, something slow, something dangerous.
His lips curved not quite a smile, more like a quiet claim.
"Good morning," he said, voice deep and steady. "I believe you and I have a lot to discuss."
Her stomach dropped.
Her pulse spiked.
No.
No.
Absolutely not.
This wasn't happening.
"That's" she started, but no words came out.
The CEO cleared his throat. "Aria, good. You're here." He gestured toward the stranger. "Meet Adrian Hale. He'll be the new lead for the strategic merger. You two will be working closely."
Closely.
The word hit her like heat.
Adrian's gaze held hers, unreadable but undeniably intense.
The CEO continued, oblivious. "Adrian has been reviewing your reports. He was impressed."
Adrian didn't blink. "More than impressed."
Her breath caught.
The CEO clapped his hands. "Excellent. Let's begin."
Aria moved to her seat, pretending not to notice Adrian's gaze following her like a shadow. But every time she looked up even by accident she found him already watching her.
Not rudely.
Not obviously.
But with a depth that made her heartbeat misbehave.
When she spoke, his focus sharpened.
When she argued a point, his eyes warmed.
When she reached for a file, his gaze dipped subtly to her hands… and lingered.
It was infuriating.
It was distracting.
It was… something else.
The meeting dragged on, but the room felt charged, pulled tight by an invisible thread between them. When someone cracked a joke, she laughed, and she sensed his attention hitch on her smile.
When he spoke calm, decisive, annoyingly intelligent she felt it like pressure on her skin.
And when the meeting finally ended, she gathered her papers quickly, desperate to escape before she made a fool of herself.
But as she turned to leave, Adrian stepped into her path again this time intentionally.
He didn't touch her.
He didn't need to.
His quiet presence alone felt like a hand around her waist.
"Aria," he said softly.
Her breath hitched.
"Yes?"
He leaned slightly closer close enough she could feel the warmth radiating from him, close enough her pulse tripped in her throat.
"Next time," he murmured, "I'd catch you even faster."
Her cheeks burned.
Her voice failed.
Adrian's eyes flicked briefly to her lips slow, deliberate before he stepped back, letting her pass.
She walked out of the room on unsteady legs.
And she knew, without question, without doubt, without even understanding why:
Adrian Hale was going to be a problem.
A beautiful, dangerous problem she couldn't stop thinking about.