5 - FIRST SPARK

Dante didn't even blink. He leaned back in his chair and looked around the empty room.

"Are you going to put me in timeout?" Dante asked.

"You think this is a joke," I said. My voice echoed slightly against the glass walls. "You think you just won a prize because a few executives nodded at you."

"I think I just saved your European shipping division."

"You just embarrassed the VP of Strategy in front of the people who approve our funding," I corrected him. "That isn't a victory. It is just another form of corporate suicide."

Dante let out a short, rough laugh.

He pushed his chair back and stood up. He didn't look intimidated at all. He reached up and loosened his tie, pulling it off and throwing it on the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Dante didn't answer. He shrugged his suit jacket off and tossed it onto the chair.

"I gave you a direct order to stay seated," I said.

"I heard you," Dante replied.

He started walking down the length of the table. He didn't rush. He moved with a quiet, deliberate pace that put my nerves on edge.

"You expected me to drown today," Dante said as he walked. "You handed me a failing file and wanted me to look like an idiot."

"I wanted you to understand that you don't belong here."

"Too bad. Harlan put me here."

I didn't take a step back. I held my ground as he closed the distance between us.

"Harlan put you here as a mascot," I told him. "You aren't supposed to actually speak."

"I'm not going to sit in a corner and be quiet just to make you feel safe, Levi."

He was getting too close. I normally demanded at least three feet of personal space from anyone in the building. Dante completely ignored that rule.

He took another step.

I stepped back on instinct. My shoulders hit the cold glass wall behind me.

I was trapped.

Dante didn't stop. He stepped right into my space and planted his hand flat against the glass next to my head. He was taller than me, and he used every inch of that height to box me in.

"Move," I told him.

He didn't move.

Suddenly, the air in the room felt entirely too thin. A weird, suffocating static settled over us. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I could smell him. It wasn't just his cologne. It was a heavy, aggressive scent of smoke and leather. It flooded my senses, clashing violently with my own scent of rain and cedar.

The reaction hit me out of nowhere.

My heart started hammering against my ribs. It beat so fast and hard that it actually hurt. A strange, hot flush crept up my neck. I couldn't catch a full breath.

I didn't understand what was happening to my body. I never lost my composure. I never panicked in front of anyone.

But right now, every single nerve ending I had was screaming.

Dante looked down at me. His eyes were dark and incredibly focused. I could see the pulse jumping in his throat.

"You want me to learn my place," Dante whispered.

"Get away from me."

My voice actually shook. I hated the sound of it.

"My place is right here."

The proximity was going to kill me. The heat radiating off his chest was too much.

I refused to let him see me break. I brought both my hands up, planted them flat against his chest, and shoved him as hard as I could.

Dante stumbled backward.

The second the physical contact broke, my lungs expanded. I took a sharp breath of air and stepped away from the glass.

I didn't say another word to him. I didn't look at his face. I just walked past him, my shoes clicking sharply against the floor.

I pushed through the boardroom doors and stepped out into the hallway.

Greer was standing near the reception desk. She looked up from her tablet.

"Levi?" she asked. "The recess is almost over. Do you want me to call them back in?"

"Cancel the rest of the meeting," I told her.

I didn't stop walking. I headed straight for my private elevator at the end of the hall. I needed to get to the penthouse. I needed a locked door and a glass of water.

"Cancel it?" Greer asked, rushing to keep up with me. "What should I tell the board?"

"Tell them I had an emergency."

"What kind of emergency?"

"Just handle it, Greer."

I reached the elevator and hit the call button. The doors slid open immediately. The inside was empty and quiet.

I stepped inside and turned around, pressing the button for the top floor.

Greer stopped a few feet away, watching me with a confused look on her face. I ignored her and stared at the metal doors, waiting for them to close.

They started to slide shut. I finally let out a slow breath.

Then a hand shot through the gap.

The metal doors bounced off a thick wrist. They chimed in protest and slid back open.

Dante stepped inside the small, confined space of the elevator right as the doors locked shut.