Chapter 7

Aria

I found myself deposited on the shore of the pool like a sack of potatoes, sputtering and coughing up cold water. Lucas was whimpering and licking my face, his giant furry head nudging me.

Shivering, I raised myself on shaking arms and looked over to see Darren calmly climbing out of the pool.

If I hadn’t been half-frozen and terrified, I might have marveled at how fast and easily he’d rescued me—how he had pulled me out with such ease, despite the weight of both of us combined with our soaking wet clothes.

Oh, hell. I guess I was marveling at that, too.

“You can’t swim?” Mismatched eyes darted down to my white shirt.

I followed his gaze and quickly realized that my shirt had gone completely see-through now that it was wet, exposing the lacy red bra I had thrown on this morning without thinking. Wrapping my arms around myself, I ground out, “No. I can’t.”

Darren grabbed his suit jacket, which he had apparently discarded before jumping in to save me, and handed it to me. I hesitated for a moment before slipping it on. It was warm and smelled faintly of his cologne, and despite the frigid temperature, I felt my cheeks flush slightly.

“If you can’t swim, then maybe you should stay away from bodies of water,” he said matter-of-factly.

I whipped my head up and shot him a withering glare. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought there was the faintest ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips.

“How did you even get such a deep pool in a building like this, anyway?”

Darren merely shrugged and stood, shaking his hair like a dog so that droplets of water sprayed on me. I flinched, shielding myself from the onslaught with my arm, although I took the opportunity to look up at him under my arm while he was distracted.

With his own clothes soaked, I could see the curves and contours of his muscles perfectly, and…

Well, I supposed a billionaire like Darren could afford a private chef, a personal trainer, and a state-of-the-art home gym.

And it showed.

“Your clothes are soaked,” Darren finally said once he had finished—thankfully I looked away before he noticed me staring.

Wow. We’ve got a real Einstein on our hands, I thought to myself before saying out loud, “Astute observation.”

There it was again; that tiny smirk. But it was gone in a flash, leaving me wondering if the cold was making me imagine things. Darren cocked his head toward the elevator, which still looked absurdly out of place up here.

“Follow me.”

Without helping me up (no doubt I had exhausted his good graces by now), Darren began making his way back to the elevator. I scrambled to my feet and followed, eager to get out of this weirdly cold room.

We took the elevator back down, and I half expected to emerge soaking wet into the advertising department for all to see. But instead, a few floors down, the elevator doors slid open to reveal—

“You live here?” I asked, looking around at the lavish apartment entryway that we stepped out into.

“Sort of.” Darren pressed his thumb into a bioscanner and the large door unlocked. “I stay here sometimes, when I’m not traveling for work. It’s just easier to live in the same building you work in.”

“You don’t feel a bit stifled, never being away from your workplace?”

“Nope.”

We stepped inside, and I was once again taken aback by the grandeur of it all; but rather than a lush forest, I was met with pristine hardwood floors, high ceilings, large windows, and plush furniture. The entire place smelled like eucalyptus, and a gas fireplace in the living room flickered to life when Darren pressed a button on the wall.

It wasn’t as big as one would expect for a billionaire—smaller than the ‘playroom’ upstairs. But it was certainly bigger than my apartment, with a huge kitchen leading out into a cozy living room that overlooked the city.

I followed him into a small hallway with a couple of doors. He opened one to reveal a lavish bathroom with a large shower and an even bigger soaking tub, then disappeared through the other door for a moment and emerged with a bundle of clothes for me.

“You can shower here,” he said, handing me the clothes.

I held them up: a white t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, both clearly belonging to him, and far too big for me.

I couldn’t go downstairs in these…

“I’ll wash your clothes,” he said, as if reading my mind yet again. “Don’t worry. My machines are fast.”

Nodding, I stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The water heated up quickly, and I was glad to stand beneath the warm stream after that frigid pool.

How did he get such a deep pool up there, anyway? There had to have been an empty floor or two between the ‘playroom’ and here to make room for the water tanks, I figured; I couldn’t think of another explanation.

When I stepped out, I quickly dried off and wrapped my hair in a plush white towel. I slipped on Darren’s clothes, which were indeed too big, and opened the door to find Darren standing in the hallway.

My heart stopped.

He was… shirtless. And muscular as hell, with golden skin still glistening with water.

I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen a more perfect male specimen.

“Ahem.” Darren nodded toward the open bathroom door, long raven hair hanging down to his shoulders. “If you’ve finished gawking, may I…?”

Blushing, I quickly muttered an apology and stepped aside. “You can put your clothes into the dryer,” he called over his shoulder as he entered. Only once he shut the door behind himself did I let out the breath I’d been holding.

It was a good thing he couldn’t see me anymore, because my face turned redder than ever.

…

Darren was right; his machines really were fast. My clothes were clean and dry before I knew it, and by the time I emerged into the advertising department again, I still had time to spare before the meeting.

After quickly drafting up my proposal, I found Arthur at his desk. I handed him my draft with what I hoped was a confident smile and said, “Here’s my draft, if you’d like to take a look before the meeting.”

Arthur didn’t even look up from his computer as he took my folder from my hands. He flipped through it for all of two seconds before handing it back to me.

“Don’t bother presenting that at the meeting.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What… why not?” I asked, glancing down at my work. “I know it’s rough, but perhaps with a little polishing—”

“It needs more than polishing. You might as well throw it in the trash right now.”

Arthur’s words made my hands go clammy, and to make matters worse, he was already getting up from his desk and disappearing into the conference room. I thought my idea was pretty good… Not any worse than the other employees who were slacking off, at least.

But I was the newbie around here. Perhaps I had a lot to learn.

Sighing, I tucked my folder under my arm and made my way to the conference room. Lily caught up with me as I entered, and it was then that I realized she was tall like me—in fact, glancing around, it hit me that everyone here was quite tall.

“Mind if I sit with you?” she asked, red nails tapping against her portfolio.

I shook my head and smiled, even though she had practically talked my ear off earlier about ‘humans’. I’d sort of come to the conclusion that she was one of those ‘otherkin’ people—you know, the people who claim that their soul is a wolf or a fox or something of the sort. A little odd, but harmless.

But as we sat together, she leaned close and… sniffed me.

Okay, now this is too much…

“Why you suddenly smell so familiar,” she said, wrinkling her nose. Before I could answer, not that I even knew what to say, Darren walked by and made his way to the head of the table.

Lily’s eyes lit up. “I know what it is! You smell just like the boss’s shower gel!”