Five

It had been a month since Izzy started working at Steele Industries.

A whole month of early mornings, long meetings, and trying to act like her boss didn’t make her pulse skip every time he walked by.

Dominic Steele had been the perfect picture of professionalism. Cold. Polite. Distant.

He spoke to her only when necessary.… short, clipped sentences, all business, no warmth. It was as if that night between them never happened.

And Izzy had almost convinced herself she was fine with it.

Almost.

Until the rumors started.

It began on a quiet Tuesday morning. She was by the coffee machine when two coworkers whispered nearby, thinking she couldn’t hear.

“Did you hear? Mr. Steele’s been seeing someone.”

“Really? Who?”

“No one knows. Some woman who’s been visiting his office. Red lipstick, heels, the works.”

Izzy froze mid-pour.

Her chest tightened in a way she didn’t like.

She didn’t want to care. She really didn’t. But the thought of Dominic with someone else smiling at them, touching them... twisted something inside her.

She set her cup down and forced a calm expression. “Morning,” she said quickly, and the two women jumped, mumbling greetings before hurrying off.

Back at her desk, she tried to focus on the Harper project, but the words blurred. Every time Dominic’s door opened, her eyes flicked up.

And when he came out to speak to another manager, she swore she caught a faint trace of perfume... not hers.

Get a grip, Izzy, she told herself. You have no claim on him.

Still, when Maya texted later that afternoon

Maya: Surviving work?

Izzy: Trying to.

Maya: Still avoiding the boss you slept with?

Izzy: He’s avoiding me.

Maya: Maybe he’s distracted. Maybe by someone else. 👀

Izzy didn’t reply. She just turned her phone face down and exhaled sharply.

That’s when Dominic’s voice came from behind her. “Miss Hart.”

Her heart jumped. She turned, forcing a neutral tone. “Yes, Mr. Steele?”

He held out a file. “I need you to make a reservation at Lume, eight o’clock. Two seats. Private table.”

Her chest tightened. “Of course,” she said.

“Confirm it under my name,” he added before walking back into his office.

She sat frozen for a few seconds, staring at the file in her hands.

So it’s true, she thought. He’s taking someone out.

She shouldn’t care. She really shouldn’t. But she did.

Later that evening, as she finished updating some documents, she saw the elevator open. A woman stepped out... tall, elegant, with glossy hair and bold red lips. She walked straight into Dominic’s office without knocking.

Izzy tried to focus on her screen, but her stomach twisted. She heard faint laughter from inside the glass room, followed by silence.

A few minutes later, she stood to leave… and that’s when it happened.

The woman stepped closer to Dominic, smiling, her hand on his chest. Dominic didn’t move back fast enough.

Izzy froze, eyes wide, just as the woman leaned in and kissed him.

The world seemed to blur for a second.

Dominic didn’t kiss her back… not fully... but he didn’t push her away immediately either. And that was enough.

Izzy’s chest ached in a way she didn’t understand. She turned quickly, grabbed her bag, and walked out before they could see her expression.

Outside, the cool night air hit her face. She kept walking, head down, trying not to think. But the image replayed over and over… his lips, that woman’s red lipstick, the quiet between them.

By the time she got home, she was angry.

Angry at herself for caring. Angry at him for pretending not to.

She threw her bag on the couch and sank into the cushions, her phone buzzing.

Maya: You okay?

Izzy: Not really.

Maya: What happened?

Izzy: He was with someone. At work.

Maya: Your boss? The guy from the club?

Izzy: Yes.

Maya: Want me to say something comforting or something honest?

Izzy: Both.

Maya: Comforting: He’s an idiot. Honest: You care about him more than you want to admit.

Izzy sighed, typing slowly.

Izzy: Maybe I do. But he doesn’t feel the same.

Still, she couldn’t forget the look in his eyes when he’d said before you give me another reason to forget the rules.

That hadn’t been cold. That had been something else.

And deep down, she knew Dominic Steele wasn’t a man who let people close easily. Which meant whoever that woman was... and whatever that kiss meant... There was more to it.

Izzy didn’t know whether to hope… or to stop herself before it was too late.

Izzy couldn’t remember much of the walk home.

The city lights blurred past her, voices fading into background noise.

All she could see in her mind was that moment the woman’s red lips pressed against Dominic’s, his stillness, the silence after.

She unlocked her apartment door and dropped her bag by the couch. The quiet hit her harder than she expected.

Her chest felt heavy.

She told herself it didn’t matter.… he could see whoever he wanted. He was her boss, nothing more.

But that small voice in her heart wouldn’t listen.

She sat on the couch, head in her hands. Why do I care so much?

She remembered the first time she’d met him... how he’d looked at her like she was the only person in the room. The way his voice had dropped when he said I remember everything.

And now, that same man had stood still while another woman kissed him.

Her phone buzzed again, another message from Maya.

Maya: Still up?

Izzy: Yeah.

Maya: Want me to come over?

Izzy: No, I’ll be fine. Just tired.

She set the phone down and leaned back.

The truth was, she wasn’t fine.

She felt foolish... jealous of someone that wasn’t hers, hurt by a man who owed her nothing.

But underneath the jealousy was something else. Confusion.

Because even now, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Dominic wasn’t as untouched by her as he seemed.

She’d seen the way his jaw tightened when he looked at her too long. The small pauses before he spoke her name. The flashes of warmth that slipped through his cold, professional front.

Maybe he was fighting it. Maybe they both were.

Izzy stood and walked to the window, staring out at the city. The streets below glowed with moving lights, but she barely saw them.