8-Love After heartbreak

Who the hell is that man? Anna thought.

She watched as the man walked past her desk.

The words she’d thrown at him still sat sharp in her mouth, hotter than they should have been.

She didn’t know who he was, that was the problem. What if he has a big position in the company? Then she will actually lose her job.

She exhaled through her nose and dropped her phone before concentrating on her keyboard. One more file. That was all. Once it was documented and sent, she could leave and finally leave in peace.

Elaine appeared at the edge of her desk before the last paragraph was finished. She leaned in, and smiled.

“Hope you’re good?” Elaine asked.

“Yeah. Thank you.” Anna answered, managing a small smile in return.

“The boss would love to meet you,” Elaine said, voice dropping just enough that Anna felt the shift. “Make sure you’re good, please. He doesn’t tolerate any sort of disrespect. Else you lose your job.”

Anna’s fingers stilled on the keys. She nodded because that was what she was supposed to do, but her pulse had already kicked harder against her ribs.

She didn’t know the boss or what he looked like. She didn’t know half the people on this floor. What she did know was that she’d already opened her mouth at the wrong person, and if that person decides to say something, she might not even get the chance to finish her first week. The first week is better, her first day.

Elaine gave her one last look, almost sympathetic, then walked off.

Anna sat for a second longer than she needed to, staring at the half-finished document. She typed the last lines without really reading them, saved, shut the system down, and stood up.

The file she was meant to hand over was in a clear folder on the corner of her desk. She picked it up, smoothed the edge with her thumb, and headed upstairs.

The boss’s office was on the upper floor, left corridor.

She’d seen the door that morning when Elaine took her there and told her to wait outside.

The carpet muted her steps. Two men stood outside the closed door in dark suits, both watching her approach without speaking. A third man was mid-conversation with them when she reached the landing.

He turned at the sound of her heels.

“Is she new here?” he asked one of the bodyguards.

The bodyguard nodded. The man looked back at her and smiled, brief and easy.

Anna didn’t return it. She kept her expression neutral, professional, the way she’d practiced in the mirror to do on her first day.

One of the bodyguards checked the badge clipped on her chest, then pressed something on the panel beside the door.

“Go inside,” She stepped inside.

The office was larger than she’d expected.

Late light came through tall windows and cut across the desk and the open space behind it.

A man stood near the window with his back to her, bare from the waist up, changing his shirt.

The fabric of the new one hung from his hand. Muscles shifted across his shoulders as he moved. Anna stopped mid-step, heat climbing straight to her face.

She turned fast.“Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to barge in, I…”

“Coming from you that insulted me?” The voice hit the back of her neck like a hand.

Her eyes widened slightly with shock. Was that man her boss?!

She turned again before she could stop herself, just to be sure, and her shoulder collided with solid warmth.

He was right behind her.

The folder slipped in her grip.

She caught it, but not before her body had already bumped fully into his. Bare skin. Heat. The clean, expensive scent of whatever perfume he’d used.

Her heartbeat slammed once, hard, then kept going, loud enough she was sure he could hear it.

He didn’t step back.

A small smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth as he looked down at her.

One hand settled at her waist, fingers curling just enough to pull her closer instead of letting her retreat.

The contact was firm and a short gasp left her before she could swallow it.

Her eyes dropped without permission to the bare chest inches from her face, then dragged upward.

Cold eyes. Sharp jaw. The same man from downstairs, only now there was nothing between them but the thin space he was choosing to close.

He leaned in. His mouth brushed the shell of her ear when he spoke, voice low enough that it stayed between the two of them.

“Anna,” he said, her name sounded different as he said it, “don’t you wanna teach me how not to look down at you anymore?”