“Good morning.” she greeted, voice flirty. “What can I get for you, handsome?”
Nathan didn’t respond to her teasing. He looked at me instead. “Elise?”
“Um, I’ll have a small white mocha latte and a chocolate muffin,” I say quickly, pointing at the display.
Nathan turns back to the barista. “And a black coffee.”
Her grin faltered for a fraction of a second before she smoothly rang up our order like she’s not used to being ignored.
I reached for my purse, but Nathan shook his head. “I’ve got it.”
Of course.
When our order was ready, I grabbed my cup, expecting him to lead us toward the door. But instead, he paused, scanning the café before gesturing toward a small table by the window.
“Sit with me,” he said.
I blinked. “What about work?”
“Work will still be there in thirty minutes.”
“Nathan…”
“Please.”
I sighed, but my feet moved before my mouth could argue.
I couldn’t change what happened yesterday. I couldn’t change that everyone at the office had most likely seen the video of me grinding on Nathan. But I could control how I handled it moving forward.
And that meant boundaries. Professionalism. No more weakness.
I’ll apologize. I’ll tell him I got caught up in the heat of the moment. We’ll forget it ever happened and move on.
The plan looped in my head like a mantra as I gripped my coffee and muffin.
We sat in the warm light spilling through the window, the world quiet for once. Nathan sipped his coffee slowly while I pulled out my iPad from my purse, pretending not to notice that he was watching me.
My hands itched to fidget, but I tightened them around the Ipad instead. “I have your agenda for the day,” I began. “First, a creative review with the A&R team to go over new artist demos, followed by a meeting with the marketing team to finalize the upcoming summer release campaigns. In the afternoon, there’s a studio check-in with the recording artists and producers, and your fitting for your tux for the Fire and Ice Awards has been rescheduled to four.” I rattled it off too quickly, desperate to anchor myself in the familiarity of my job.
Silence stretched, thick enough to choke me. When I finally forced myself to look up, Nathan was leaning back in his chair, one hand braced against his jaw as he studied me. Not the way a boss studied his assistant. No, his gaze was heavier and sharper. The kind that burned straight through fabric and skin until it landed somewhere too private.
I swallowed hard. “That’s… that’s everything.”
He didn’t respond. Didn’t even blink. Just sat there, eyes locked on me like he could still taste last night lingering between us. Heat crept up my neck, my pulse thundering in my ears. “I’ll, um, get the reports you asked for yesterday when we arrive at the office and put them on your desk. And I can make these coffee to go—”
“Elise.”
The way he said my name was low and deliberate and stole the rest of my sentence from my lips.
“Yes?” My voice cracked.Perfect.
His mouth twitched, like he knew exactly what he was doing to me. “You seem tense this morning.”
I forced a laugh that sounded nothing like me. “Me? No. Not at all. Just trying to do my job.”
“Your job,” he repeated, his eyes never leaving mine. “Interesting. Because if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were nervous about being around me after last night.”
My breath caught. My carefully rehearsed apology that we should forget the kiss, that it was unprofessional and it won’t happen again, dissolved like sugar in water. Because the truth was written in the small curve of his mouth, the challenge in his stare.
