Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

EMILY’S POV

We are thrilled to announce your promotion to Senior Analyst—a position earned through your relentless dedication and brilliant insight to the company.

Cheers to your continued success.

Executive team. Callahan Enterprises…

I stood frozen in my office, staring blankly at my screen. No team high-fives, no confetti. Just the quiet hum of fluorescent lights and the weight of the words displayed on my screen pulsing through me.

Senior Analyst.

The promotion I’d been chasing for three years had finally come through, and yet somehow the victory felt hollow in the empty silence of my office. I grabbed my coat and purse, deciding that if no one else was going to celebrate with me, I’d celebrate alone at my favorite weekend spot.

McSorley’s Old Ale House was packed when I arrived, the bass from the music vibrating through the floor and into my chest as I pushed through the crowd. Bright colored lights flashed across the dance floor, momentarily blinding me as I squeezed between sweaty bodies, all of them pressed together in various states of intoxication and abandon.

I had one destination in mind and I fought my way toward it with single-minded determination.

The bar.

“Four shots of tequila please,” I shouted over the pounding music, leaning across the polished wood counter.

The bartender, someone I vaguely recognized from previous weekends, nodded and got to work lining up shot glasses. I tugged at my black skirt that kept riding up my thighs, a losing battle I’d been fighting since I’d changed out of my work clothes.

The first shot burned going down and I welcomed it, closing my eyes as the warmth spread through my chest. This was what I needed after the stress of the past few months, the late nights, the endless reports, the political maneuvering required just to get recognized for my work.

“Refreshing, huh?”

The deep baritone voice came from directly behind me, close enough that I felt his breath on my neck. I jolted slightly, turning to find a man sliding onto the barstool next to mine. He had dark eyes that seemed to catch the colored lights from the dance floor, reflecting them back at me with an intensity that made my pulse quicken.

“I guess the night just started on your end,” he said, gesturing to my remaining three shots.

I rolled my eyes, taking another shot to steady myself. “Just another man here to steal the night away with his charm. How original.”

It was a holiday weekend, which explained why the club was so packed. I’d completely forgotten when I’d decided to come out tonight, and now I was regretting it slightly as I realized I’d probably spend the rest of the evening fending off drunk men who thought proximity equaled consent.

“Is there some sort of celebration?” he asked, ignoring my dismissive tone. His voice was closer now and when I glanced over, I realized he’d leaned in to be heard over the music.

I craned my neck to look at him properly, forcing a smile even though the alcohol was already making my head feel pleasantly fuzzy. “Promotion.”

The word slipped out before I could stop it. I wouldn’t normally share personal information with a stranger at a bar, but the tequila was working faster than it should and my filter had apparently taken the night off.

“Let me guess,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips as he settled more comfortably onto his barstool. “Managing director? Or even better, you bought the company and had your boss kicked out?”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Actually laughed, the sound surprising even me as it bubbled up from my chest. There was something about his easy confidence, the way he joked without being sleazy, that put me at ease.

“I mean, bosses at the office can be so demanding and damn annoying,” he continued, tipping his head conspiratorially.

“You can say that again,” I responded, surprised to find myself genuinely smiling.

He must have leaned in at some point during our conversation about terrible bosses because suddenly there was no space between us at all. I was breathing in his cologne, something earthy and masculine that made my head spin in a way that had nothing to do with the alcohol. My eyes fluttered closed as I felt him move closer, his warmth chasing away the chill from the club’s air conditioning.

Our lips touched and passion rushed through me like an electric current. It was meant to be just one kiss, something chaste and innocent, but within seconds I knew it had become something more.

I was drunk, yes, but I knew exactly what I wanted.

“Would you want to go somewhere more private?” His fresh minty breath brushed across my face and I inhaled helplessly, already nodding before he’d finished the question.

The next thing I knew, I was wrapped in the arms of a stranger in a hotel room, his warm lips pressed against mine as my eyes closed and I sighed into the kiss. The slight taste of beer still lingered on his mouth as I instinctively moved my hand up his chest to his shoulder and then to the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

It felt electrifying and surreal, like a million fireworks had gone off inside me all at once.

When I woke up hours later, golden sunlight stabbed through the curtains and I slowly realized I was alone. No note, no goodbye, no phone number scrawled on hotel stationery. Just the lingering smell of his cologne on the pillow beside me and the dull ache of regret already forming in my chest.

-----

My head pounded like a missed deadline when I walked into the office at ten the next morning, a large coffee clutched in one hand like a lifeline. I’d spent the entire commute trying not to think about last night, about the stranger whose name I couldn’t even remember, about how I’d celebrated my promotion by doing something reckless and stupid.

I pushed open the door to the boardroom where Miranda had asked me to meet the new batch of trainees I’d be overseeing as part of my new senior position. I was already running through my mental checklist of everything I needed to cover in the orientation when I looked up and my entire world tilted violently on its axis.

He was there.

The man from last night. Same striking features, same dark eyes that had looked at me with such intensity across the bar. Same face I’d woken up next to just hours ago.

My feet stopped moving and I froze mid-step, coffee sloshing dangerously in its cup as my hand started to shake. He was leaning casually against the conference table, and when he saw me, a slow smile spread across his face like he’d been waiting for exactly this moment.

“She’s here,” someone said, but the voice sounded distant and muffled through the ringing in my ears.

“Emily, you’re here just in time,” Miranda called out cheerfully, gesturing for me to come closer. “We were just about to start introductions.”

But I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. I just stood there gaping like an idiot while my brain tried desperately to process what was happening.

He held my gaze for a long moment, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes, then he extended his hand toward me in a formal greeting.

“Jace,” he said, and I hated how his voice still sent shivers down my spine even here in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the boardroom. His eyes dropped deliberately to the ID badge clipped to my blazer that clearly declared my new title: Senior Analyst. “Good to know you’re the boss around here. Starting this morning, I’m training under you.”

The words hit me like a physical blow and my heart sank straight through the floor.

I’d just slept with one of the new recruits.

“No no no,” I whispered under my breath, so quietly I hoped no one else could hear.

“Shit, Emily.”