Chapter 4

A Slow-Burning Desire

The tension in the air was palpable.

Eloise swiftly typed up the last of the reports, but her mind was far from the spreadsheet flickering on the screen. The heat of Augusto Monteiro’s presence still lingered around her, even after he had stepped out of his glass-walled office.

She took a deep breath.

Breathe, Eloise. Just breathe… He’s only your boss. That’s all, she repeated silently.

But it was difficult to ignore the look he had given her minutes earlier. A look filled with power, control… and something more.

Desire?

Augusto, meanwhile, watched everything from his office. His arms were crossed over his chest, his dress shirt flawlessly fitted across his muscular frame, and his jaw was tense as though he were fighting against something invisible.

She was bold. Provocative.

But there was a sincerity in her eyes that he couldn’t ignore.

She was unlike any other woman he had ever met. She didn’t flirt to please him—she challenged him, confronted him, all without ever losing her elegance.

And to him, that was dangerously addictive.

Then she knocked softly on his door.

“Mr. Monteiro, here are the reports you requested,” she said firmly.

He stared at her for a moment too long.

He slowly took the papers from her hands, their fingers brushing for a fraction of a second. His gaze dropped to her lips.

Those lips…

“Is there anything else?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral.

He stood.

The faint shiver that traveled down her spine was completely involuntary.

He walked toward her slowly, stopping close enough for her to catch the scent of his woody cologne.

“You enjoy provoking me, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, meeting his gaze.

“You enjoy testing me,” he said, his voice low and heavy with tension.

She raised an eyebrow.

“I only enjoy doing my job. You’re the one who seems far too easily distracted.”

A crooked smile touched his lips.

“Do you have an answer for everything, Eloise?”

“For almost everything. When it comes to you… I’m still deciding,” she replied with a provocative smile.

For a moment, the air seemed to grow thicker.

He was so close.

She could feel the heat radiating from his body. His gaze traveled slowly from her eyes to her lips, then from her lips to her neck.

And he looked at her as though he were ready to break every rule he had imposed.

“If you keep this up, I can’t promise I’ll be able to remain professional,” he murmured, standing so close that his breath brushed against her skin.

A shiver ran through her.

Part of her wanted to know what would happen if he finally lost control.

But another part of her…

Her phone vibrated.

She picked it up immediately.

The name on the screen turned her blood cold. For a moment, the entire world seemed to stop.

“Hello?” she said, snapping out of the trance.

A hurried, worried voice spoke from the other end, firing off words she could barely process. Augusto frowned when he saw the sudden change in her expression.

“All right. I’m coming now,” she said before ending the call.

She hurriedly grabbed her bag. Her professional composure had completely dissolved.

“Did something happen?” he asked, a faint trace of concern in his voice.

“The workday is over. I need to leave immediately,” she said, already heading toward the door.

“Eloise…”

She turned back just long enough to say,

“Good night, Mr. Monteiro.”

Then she left, leaving Augusto standing motionless, his gaze fixed on the door through which she had just disappeared.

That woman…

She left a mark wherever she went.

She had walked away without offering an explanation, without flattery, and without fear—exactly as she was.

And it unsettled him far more than he cared to admit.

He glanced at the clock.

It was 6:15 p.m.

But that wasn’t what made him restless.

It was the fact that, for the first time in years, he wanted to know.

He wanted to understand.

He wanted to go after her.

And that…

was dangerous.