Chapter 4

Online, Adrian would do pretty much anything I asked. In person, he was still the guy who made the whole company nervous.

We almost blew it at lunch.

The office had gone quiet — half the team asleep at their desks, the other half zoned out. I was bored and restless, so I opened Ash's chat.

"Can't sleep. Record something for me. That low voice. Tell me you want to kiss me."

The audio came back about a minute later. Three seconds long.

I hit play, smiling — and then remembered I'd put my earbuds away.

Adrian's voice came out of my phone speaker at full volume.

"Baby, I'd really like to kiss you."

Oh, shit.

The room went dead silent. Heads lifted from desks. People blinked at each other.

"Okay, whose phone was that?"

"That voice though—"

"Doesn't it kind of sound like the CEO?"

"Adrian? Please. I can see him firing us all, sure. But baby? That man has never called anyone baby in his life. Honestly kind of disturbing to even think about."

I slammed my volume button and stared very hard at my keyboard.

Then the office door opened.

Adrian walked in with a folder. He must have heard it from the hallway, because he'd already gone red by the time he stepped through the door.

He scanned the room. His eyes landed on me.

He gripped the folder and stared at me — hard.

Oh, we are absolutely cooked.

I mouthed sorry and touched my nose. There was nothing else I could do.

He looked at me for one more second, jaw tight, then turned to the room.

"Maya." Cold and deliberate. "Playing personal audio out loud in the office — during work hours, in a shared space — is completely unacceptable. I don't care if it's lunch. Have some basic professionalism."

He didn't make it to the planning director. Just turned and walked straight back out.

The room exhaled like a punctured tire.

"God, I thought he was going to fire someone," someone muttered. Then, turning to me: "Hey, Maya — what even was that? Some kind of podcast?"

"Fiction podcast." I said, nodding with what I hoped was a straight face. "Very immersive."

I looked back down at the audio file on my screen and thought about the red still burning at the tips of Adrian's ears as he walked away.

Honestly? Best part of my week.