7 - JETT'S POV

I scrambled to grab my yellow notepad from the messy pile of papers on my desk.

My fingers trembled so much that I accidentally knocked my favorite black pen onto the floor.

“fvck,” I whispered under my breath while I bent down to pick it up from the carpet.

I could feel the heavy stares of every single coworker burning into my back while I fumbled with my supplies.

I grabbed the pen, wiped the dust off the plastic barrel, and tucked it into my front shirt pocket so I would not drop it again.

The tall billionaire was already walking away from my cubicle, and he clearly expected me to follow him without hesitation.

My previous boss had been a lazy man who never demanded anything, and this sudden shift in management terrified me.

I needed the health insurance provided by this company, and I could not afford to lose my benefits over a simple mistake.

I took a deep breath to steady my racing pulse and stepped out of my cubicle to follow the new CEO.

I hurried down the center aisle of the corporate floor and kept my head down to avoid looking at Brenda and the others.

My leather dress shoes clicked loudly against the white floor tiles. The entire office had fallen silent, and the repetitive sound echoed through the room.

I watched the broad line of his shoulders shift beneath his expensive dark suit jacket as he moved toward the executive suite.

He walked with a strange, fluid grace that did not belong in a boring corporate office filled with stressed accountants.

Dan’s warnings about his ruthless reputation played on a constant loop inside my head.

I promised myself I would do whatever it took to keep him happy.

The massive mahogany double doors stood open at the end of the hallway, and he stepped inside the spacious suite.

I followed him across the threshold. The heavy wooden door clicked shut behind me and sealed us inside.

The thick walls blocked out all the background noise from the typing pool, and the sudden quiet made my ears ring.

The private office was huge. A wall of floor-to-ceiling windows offered a dizzying view of the busy city skyline.

There were no personal pictures or decorations anywhere in the room. The lack of personal items made the space feel cold and uninviting.

A heavy bronze sculpture rested on the corner of his desk, and the sharp edges of the metal matched his harsh energy.

The air conditioning blasted cold air from the ceiling vents, yet I was sweating heavily under my gray suit jacket.

He turned around to face me and did not bother to sit down in the large leather chair behind his desk.

He wore a silver watch on his left wrist, and the expensive metal caught the sunlight pouring through the windows.

“My name is Ren Wilder, and I expect absolute perfection from the people who work for me.”

His deep voice sent a strange shiver down my spine, and I squeezed my notepad to ground myself in reality.

“I understand, Mr. Wilder, and I assure you that my work is always accurate,” I replied while I tried to keep my voice steady.

Ren tilted his head slightly, and his pale eyes locked onto mine with a terrifying intensity that made my stomach drop.

The air in the room suddenly felt very thin, and I struggled to pull a full breath of oxygen into my lungs.

I flipped open my yellow notepad and tried to focus on the blue ink written across the page instead of looking at his handsome face.

“Your first meeting is scheduled for nine o’clock with the head of the accounting department, and then you have a conference call at ten.”

He did not look at my notes. He kept his intense gaze fixed on my face while I read the corporate itinerary.

His undivided attention made my skin burn with nervous heat, and a dark flush crept up my neck.

“A-and then the legal team wants to review the new merger contracts before you go to lunch at noon,” I stuttered.

I cursed myself silently for stuttering in front of the boss and forced my eyes back down to the safety of my written schedule.

“The head of accounting also wants to discuss the missing funds from the overseas accounts. He requested a private lunch with you.”

Ren did not react to the mention of missing funds. He just kept watching the nervous flutter of my eyelashes.

A strange heat blossomed in the center of my chest, and the bizarre sensation confused my rational mind.

I felt a deep pull toward this intimidating man, and the sudden attraction made me feel incredibly guilty.

I was a professional secretary. I had absolutely no business thirsting over the man who signed my paychecks.

I still wanted to find the mysterious man from the dark club, yet my traitorous body reacted to the stranger standing right in front of me.

The memory of the man from the hotel room clashed violently with the reality of my new CEO.

I felt like I was cheating on a ghost, and the messy emotions made my palms sweat against the cardboard backing of my notepad.

I cleared my throat and forced myself to continue.

“After lunch, the marketing director needs you to sign off on the quarterly advertising budget, and the board members want a status update on the merger.”

I waited for him to nod or acknowledge the heavy workload, but he continued staring at me with those unblinking pale eyes.

The silence stretched on for several painful seconds, and my anxiety spiked.

“The legal team also needs your signature on forty different pages before the end of the day, so I cleared your afternoon from two until four,” I added.

“Stop talking about the schedule, Jett,” Ren interrupted in a low, smooth tone.

I snapped my mouth shut, and my heart hammered violently against my ribs.

Ren ignored everything I had said about the legal team and the important budget meetings.

He took a slow step forward, and his dark shoes sank into the plush carpet.

I wanted to step backward toward the wooden door, but my feet felt glued to the floor.

He walked around the edge of his massive mahogany desk and deliberately closed the distance between us.

He stopped so close that I could see the faint gold flecks hidden inside his pale irises.

The height difference forced me to tilt my head up. His close proximity made me feel small and vulnerable in the large room.

He radiated an aura of pure dominance that made my knees feel weak.

I noticed that his breathing was slow and controlled, which contrasted sharply with my own frantic gasping.

Then I smelled the faint, crisp scent of pine wood radiating from his clothes.

The familiar smell shocked my nervous system.

My mind flashed back to the dark hotel room, but I pushed the memory away. I was probably projecting my hidden desires onto my new boss.

A bead of sweat rolled down the back of my neck, and I gripped my notepad so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

He did not step back to give me personal space. He seemed content to watch me struggle to maintain my professional composure.

I wanted to tell him to move away, but the words died in my throat.

I tried to remember the corporate training manual about workplace boundaries.

The manual never mentioned what to do when a billionaire CEO cornered you in his private office and refused to speak.

A strange urge to lean forward and rest my head against his chest entered my mind, and the crazy thought made me want to slap myself.

“Why are your hands shaking, Jett?” he asked while he stared down at my trembling fingers.

“I... I am just trying to make sure I get your schedule right, sir,” I lied while I avoided his piercing gaze.

“I do not care about the legal team, and I do not want to speak to the accounting department today,” he stated firmly.

I blinked in pure surprise, and my professional panic overrode my strange attraction for a brief second.

“But those meetings have been planned for weeks, and the senior executives are already waiting in the boardroom down the hall,” I argued before I could stop myself.

I clamped my teeth together and waited for him to yell at me for talking back to him on his very first day.

Ren did not yell or raise his voice.

He simply reached out and gently pushed my notepad down, forcing me to look directly at him.

His large hand brushed against my knuckles, and a hot spark of electricity shot up my arm.

I gasped at the unexpected contact, and my eyes widened.

He did not pull his hand away. His intense expression did not change at all.

“Cancel the rest of your assignments today because you work only for me starting now.”