CHAPTER 1 The Wrong Floor

Posy Marin was beginning to suspect that the elevator hated her.

She had pressed the button for the twenty-second floor three times, apologized to a woman who wasn't even inside the elevator, and threatened to take the stairs if the machine didn't cooperate.

Now it had taken her to the thirty-first floor.

"Listen, sweetheart," she whispered to the control panel, "I know we haven't been properly introduced, but I really need you to stop making my life difficult."

The elevator chimed.

Its doors slid open.

Posy stepped out, expecting another corridor full of pink walls and chocolate displays.

Instead, she found black marble, dark wooden doors, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.

Oh.

This definitely wasn't marketing.

A silver plaque beside the elevator confirmed her suspicions.

RESTRICTED AREA

Executive Personnel Only.

Unauthorized Access Prohibited.

Posy stared at it.

Then she glanced back at the elevator.

"Well, that's embarrassing."

She pressed the button to return to the lobby.

Nothing happened.

She pressed it again.

Still nothing.

"Please don't do this to me." She tapped the button with one finger. "I have rent to pay, a career to build, and a perfectly good reputation that I'd prefer not to destroy before lunchtime."

A quiet click sounded behind her.

Posy turned.

A man had emerged from one of the offices.

And, oh.

Oh, dear.

He was tall, dressed in a black suit that fit him far too well, with deep red hair swept neatly away from his forehead. His features were striking, his jaw sharply defined, and his pale eyes rested on her with the cool patience of someone who had never once been inconvenienced by a malfunctioning elevator.

He looked expensive.

Not just his clothes. Everything about him.

Even the way he stood suggested that the world generally moved out of his way.

His gaze shifted to the restricted-access sign.

Then to Posy.

"Can I help you?"

His voice was smooth, low, and entirely unimpressed.

Posy brightened.

"Actually, yes! My elevator seems to be having a little crisis, and I was hoping you might know how to get it to take me back downstairs."

He glanced at the elevator.

Then at her.

"Your elevator?"

"Well, technically, the company's elevator. But I've spent the last five minutes negotiating with it, so we're practically family."

Silence.

Posy offered him a hopeful smile.

He didn't return it.

"You're standing on a restricted floor," he said.

"Yes. I noticed the sign."

"And you decided to stay?"

"I decided to leave. The elevator has other plans."

His gaze returned to the panel.

"Have you tried pressing the button?"

Posy stared at him.

"Of course I've tried pressing the button."

"How many times?"

"Enough to establish that the button and I have irreconcilable differences."

Something shifted in his expression.

It might have been amusement.

Posy decided to take it as a victory.

The man approached the elevator and pressed a small button beneath the panel. A soft chime sounded, and the doors opened.

Posy gasped.

"Oh, you're brilliant!"

He looked at her.

"I pressed a button."

"Yes, but I pressed that button and it ignored me. Perhaps it respects authority."

"Perhaps you should try looking less threatening."

Posy's mouth fell open.

Then she laughed.

She couldn't help it.

The man watched her for a moment, as though he hadn't expected that reaction.

"Are you always this talkative with strangers?"

"Only the ones who rescue me from hostile elevators."

"I wouldn't call that a rescue."

"Would you prefer a thank-you card?"

"With your handwriting? I doubt it would be worth keeping."

Posy clutched her chest.

"That was unnecessarily mean."

"And yet, you seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I enjoy making the best of unfortunate situations."

"How admirable."

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"I decided to accept it as one."

For the first time, his mouth curved into a genuine smile.

It was brief, but it transformed his face in a way Posy found deeply unfair.

She quickly stepped into the elevator before she could do anything embarrassing, such as complimenting him.

"Thank you for your help!" she called.

"Miss."

She turned.

He gestured toward her chest.

Her employee badge had flipped backward, revealing nothing but the plain plastic clip.

"Your identification."

"Oh!"

She straightened it.

POSY MARIN — MARKETING INTERN.

"There. Posy Marin, at your service."

"I didn't ask for your services."

"Good. I'm still in training."

She grinned and waved before the doors closed.

Only after the elevator began descending did she realize something.

She hadn't asked his name.

The marketing department occupied the twenty-second floor, and Posy arrived twelve minutes late.

She hurried through the glass doors with her handbag bouncing against her hip, her pink hair slipping from its ribbon, and an apology already prepared.

"I'm sorry! The elevator took me on an unexpected sightseeing tour, and I promise I wasn't trying to avoid orientation."

A young woman sitting behind the reception desk looked up.

"You're Posy?"

"Yes! That's me. Unfortunately, I'm also the girl who got lost in her first twenty minutes."

The woman laughed.

"I'm Chloe. Welcome to Moonberry & Co."

"Thank you! Your hair clips are adorable."

Chloe glanced at the tiny strawberry clips in Posy's hair.

"So are yours."

Posy beamed.

Finally, someone who appreciated the important things in life.

Chloe handed her a pink folder.

"Your orientation starts in five minutes. You should probably hurry."

"Absolutely."

Posy took two steps, then stopped.

"Chloe?"

"Yes?"

"Do you happen to know who works on the thirty-first floor?"

Chloe's smile faded into an expression of surprise.

"Thirty-first?"

"Yes. I accidentally ended up there."

"Oh, that's the executive floor."

"That explains the very intimidating sign."

Chloe lowered her voice.

"The CEO's office is up there. You really shouldn't go wandering around without authorization."

Posy winced.

"I'll be sure to add that to my list of things not to do again."

"Did you see anyone?"

"Just a man in a black suit. Red hair. Very handsome. Very rude."

Chloe's eyes widened.

Posy noticed.

"What?"

"Red hair?"

"Yes."

"Sharp features? Pale eyes?"

"Yes."

Chloe stared at her.

Then she slowly leaned forward.

"Posy, I think you just insulted Rafe Fitzgerald."

Posy's smile froze.

She knew that name.

Everyone who had researched Moonberry & Co. knew that name.

Rafe Fitzgerald was the company's CEO and heir to the Fitzgerald fortune. His family had built an empire from luxury confectionery, and his face occasionally appeared in business magazines beside headlines about record-breaking profits and ruthless acquisitions.

Posy had even watched a short interview with him while preparing for her internship.

He had looked into the camera and explained that sentiment had no place in business.

She'd thought he was handsome.

She'd also thought he looked like the sort of man who would send someone an invoice for breathing too loudly.

Apparently, she'd been right about the second part.

"Oh, no."

Chloe pressed her lips together.

"Did you tell him he was rude?"

Posy thought about it.

"I might have suggested that his elevator respects authority."

Chloe covered her mouth.

"Posy!"

"What? It does!"

"He's the CEO!"

"And I'm the intern! I think we've established that we're both very important people in this building."

Chloe burst out laughing.

Posy sighed and hugged the pink folder to her chest.

Her career was over.

She hadn't even received her first salary.

On the thirty-first floor, Rafe Fitzgerald stood before the windows of his office, watching the elevator descend.

A small strawberry-shaped employee badge lay on his desk.

Posy Marin.

He'd picked it up after she'd dropped it in the corridor.

He should have sent it downstairs with security.

Instead, he'd brought it into his office.

An irritatingly cheerful girl with pink hair, a stained cardigan, and absolutely no instinct for self-preservation.

She had spoken to him as though he were an ordinary man instead of the person who could dismiss half the company before breakfast.

Worse, she'd made him laugh.

Rafe disliked being surprised.

He disliked interruptions.

And he particularly disliked humans who wandered into places they weren't supposed to be.

Yet the memory of her smile lingered.

He picked up the badge and turned it between his fingers.

"Posy Marin," he murmured.

A knock sounded at the door.

His assistant entered carrying a black folder.

"Your meeting with the board has been moved to eight tonight, sir. And Lady Seraphina has confirmed dinner for tomorrow evening."

Rafe's expression cooled.

"Cancel dinner."

"Shall I give her a reason?"

"Tell her I'm busy."

"She may ask what you're busy doing."

"Then tell her I'm considering having the elevators replaced."

His assistant hesitated.

"All of them?"

Rafe glanced at the badge in his hand.

"Start with the one on the thirty-first floor."

His assistant looked thoroughly confused.

"Of course, sir."

When the door closed, Rafe returned the badge to his desk.

He had no intention of thinking about the pink-haired intern again.

He had more important things to worry about.

An engagement that had become a prison. A family that measured loyalty in centuries. A future that had been decided before he'd been old enough to object.

He certainly didn't have time for a girl who smiled at him as though the world were something wonderful.

Rafe opened his laptop.

Then, after a moment, he picked up the telephone.

"Have Human Resources send me the details of the new marketing interns."

He paused.

"And find out why the elevators are sending people to the wrong floors."

A beat of silence followed.

"Yes, sir."

Rafe hung up.

He looked once more at the little badge on his desk.

"Troublesome girl."

The words should have sounded like a complaint.

They didn't.

And that was precisely the problem.