Chapter 4

Ava’s POV

The elevator doors slide open with a soft chime, and for a moment, I just stand there breathing deeply, collecting myself, preparing my mind for another day shadowed by the presence of Kael Ravenwood.

I tell myself I’m ready.

I tell myself I’m composed.

I tell myself I can handle him.

But the moment I enter the 51st floor, the truth sinks in again: no amount of rehearsed self-control can protect me from the gravitational pull of a man like him.

The Ravenwood Tower is always cold cold marble floors, cold walls, cold lighting but the moment Kael arrives, everything in this place feels ten degrees hotter. I feel it. My body feels it. My nerves feel it.

And unfortunately, my heart feels it the most.

“Good morning, Ava,” Maya calls softly from the reception desk, her eyes already flicking to the glass doors of his office checking if he’s inside. If he’s in a good mood. If the air is safe enough to breathe.

“Morning,” I reply, though my voice is thinner than I intend.

“He’s early today,” she adds, lowering her tone.

Of course he is.

Kael Ravenwood has the kind of discipline that borders on obsession. He doesn’t let people wait for him people wait for him. He doesn’t adjust to the world; the world adjusts to him.

I smooth the crease of my pencil skirt, fix my ID lanyard, and then walk toward my desk placed right outside his glass office like a boundary. Or maybe a warning.

Before I can even organize my folders, I feel it.

That inexplicable pull.

Electric. Heavy. A presence more felt than heard.

I glance at the glass wall.

He’s standing there.

Watching me.

His hands are in his pockets, his tie dark charcoal against the white of his shirt, sleeves rolled just enough to hint at the strength beneath them. He isn’t smirking, isn’t scowling, isn’t doing anything inappropriate.

He’s simply observing me.

But somehow, that feels more intimate than a touch.

He lifts a finger in a silent summons.

A gesture that is firm, subtle… and entirely unresistible.

My pulse jumps. “Yes, sir.”

I walk inside, and as soon as the door closes behind me, the world outside disappears. He doesn’t look away from the papers on his desk as he speaks.

“You came in early,” he says, his voice smooth like expensive velvet.

“I wanted to prepare for your nine AM meeting, Mr. Ravenwood,” I answer, forcing my tone to remain steady.

“You don’t have to anticipate me, Ava.” He finally looks up. “I give clear instructions.”

My spine stiffens. “Of course.”

His eyes darken. “But I appreciate initiative.”

My breath catches. Compliments from him are rare like finding sunlight in a sealed room, too surprising to believe.

“I also have your updated reports,” I say, breaking the tension, placing a folder on his desk. “And your call with the Singapore partners is scheduled—”

“Ava.”

I freeze.

He says my name like it means something.

Slow. Low. Private.

“Yes, sir?”

He leans back, studying me with those unreadable eyes.

“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ when we’re alone.”

My heartbeat stumbles.

“It’s a habit,” I whisper.

“Break it,” he murmurs.

I swallow hard. “Mr. Ravenwood—”

“Kael.”

Just that. A single word. A single name. But hearing it from him feels like stepping over a line I shouldn’t even be standing close to.

My lips part. “I… can’t.”

“You can.” His gaze flickers to my mouth for a fraction of a second. “You just refuse to.”

Heat crawls up my spine. “It’s not professional.”

“Nothing about you feels professional anymore.”

The room grows impossibly still.

My breath stops. My mind stops. My entire sense of balance tilts.

“I didn’t mean—” he begins, but no, he absolutely meant it.

“You’re distracted,” he continues. “You’re easily flustered. And when I speak, you look at me like you’re afraid I can hear your heartbeat.”

I feel my cheeks burn. “That’s not—”

“Ava.”

This time my name sounds like a command.

And I’m helpless to it.

“You’re not as composed as you pretend to be,” he finishes quietly.

My chest tightens. “I try my best, Mr. Ravenwood.”

He doesn’t correct me this time.

Instead, he stands.

Kael rarely stands during our conversations. When he does, the air shifts as if the entire room bows to him. I instinctively take a step back, but he walks around his desk, approaching me slowly, deliberately like someone who knows he’s dangerous and chooses not to hide it.

“You don’t have to try,” he says, stopping just close enough that I feel the heat of his body. “I don’t expect perfection from you.”

“You expect it from everyone,” I whisper.

“But not from you.” His voice is low, intimate. “You’re the exception.”

I inhale sharply.

This is wrong. Completely wrong.

He shouldn’t talk to me like this.

I shouldn’t let him.

Yet my body betrays every rule my mind tries to enforce.

“I don’t understand,” I say weakly.

“You do.” His gaze drops to my lips again, lingering for a heartbeat too long. “You feel this. The same way I do.”

My knees nearly give out.

“Mr. Ravenwood—”

“Ava. Stop running from the truth.”

“I’m not running.”

“Then look at me.”

I do.

And it's a mistake.

Or maybe it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for without admitting it.

Because Kael Ravenwood is looking at me like he wants to break every rule he’s lived by. Like desire is a chain he’s been trying to hold back, and I’m the one pulling it free.

My voice trembles. “Someone might walk in.”

“I locked the door.”

My breath catches. “Why?”

“So I can finish my sentence without being interrupted.”

My pulse pounds loudly in my ears. “What sentence?”

“That you tempt me,” he murmurs.

I swear the world stands still.

“You walk into my office every day with your quiet calm, your soft voice, your stubborn professionalism…” His jaw tightens. “It’s infuriating. And addictive.”

“I don’t I intended—”

“To tempt me?” His eyes gleam with restrained heat. “You don’t have to try. You just do.”

My mouth goes dry. “This is… complicated.”

He steps an inch closer. “Everything worth wanting is.”

“I can’t lose this job,” I whisper.

“You won’t.”

“You’re my boss.”

“I know.”

“If anyone finds out—”

“No one will,” he says. “Unless you want them to.”

My mind spins. My heart races. The room feels too small, too hot, too charged with the kind of tension that could shatter both of us.

He lifts a hand and for a moment, I think he’s going to touch my face, my cheek, my mouth.

He doesn’t.

He stops just inches from my skin, holding himself back with visible effort.

“Ava,” he whispers, voice strained, “if I touch you right now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop.”

My breath trembles out of me.

“Then don’t,” I whisper.

His eyes flare desire, conflict, and something dangerously close to surrender all swirling in them.

A muscle in his jaw ticks. “Don’t tempt me further.”

“I’m not trying to.”

“You don’t have to,” he repeats softly.

Silence stretches between us.

Thick. Heavy. Forbidden.

Finally, he drops his hand and takes a slow, deliberate step back like a man forcing himself to walk away from fire.

“Go back to your desk,” he says quietly.

My heart sinks at the sudden distance. “Ka Mr. Ravenwood—”

“Ava.” His voice is rough. “Please.”

The word please from him is… unheard of.

I manage a shaky nod and walk to the door. But my hand trembles as I unlock it.

Before I leave, he speaks again.

“This isn’t over,” he says.

I don’t turn. “I know.”

“And you know why.”

I swallow hard. “Because it’s irresistible.”

“No,” he says softly. “Because you are.”

The door clicks shut behind me.

And I know nothing will ever be the same again.