LOGINLilianNEO’S POVThe conference room smelled faintly of coffee and marker ink. I took the seat at the head of the table, making myself comfortable. The coordinators filed in around me, laptops opening, folders sliding across polished wood.Daniel stood near the door, arms crossed loosely, eyes scanning out of habit. He stayed quiet. Letting me run things.“Okay,” I said, glancing at the agenda on my tablet. “Let’s start with staffing.”Miriam cleared her throat. She was one of the first people we hired when I started the foundation.“We’re short two night volunteers this month. One quit, one’s on leave.”I nodded, jotting it down on my notepad. “Temporary or permanent?”“Undetermined.”“Post the opening anyway,” I said. “If it becomes permanent, we’ll already have candidates.” “Yes Sir”, she responded, while typing quickly.“And the medication delays?” I asked, shifting my focus to the man across from her. He handled everything medication. “Supplier issues. Customs held the shipment
The Side He HidesDANIELKissing Neo was the last thing I had expected to happen. I didn’t even know how it had happened. One second I was warning him, the next my body had already decided for me.Now I stood there, staring at the door after the way he had looked at me, those eyes.Regret slammed into my chest. He probably hated me, right?It felt like a dream, except I didn’t want it to be. And he was gone. Just gone. The sound echoed in my chest, bouncing around my ribs like it was trying to break something. My hand lingered near the knob. Part of me wanted to reach out, while the other part of me wanted to stay back.I stepped back, pressing my palm against the bedpost, trying to breathe. My chest pounded, my hands shook. I could still feel him, his heat, his weight, the ghost of his lips on mine. Every nerve ending still lit, every muscle remembered.I wanted him. There was no denial now. Not because it was wrong. It wasn’t. That’s what made it worse. I had spent my life in contro
Kisses and ChaosNEOThe air between us felt impossibly heavy. My chest slammed against my ribs, my hands trembling as if I’d just run a marathon. Every part of me screamed to step back, to run, to do anything literally besides what I was about to do.But I couldn’t.Daniel’s eyes—dark, sharp, and so impossibly close—held me in place. My throat went dry, and all I could hear was the sound of my own ragged breathing. His towel clung low, his skin glistening, and it took everything in me not to reach out, to brush my fingers along the edge of that dangerous line he was daring me to cross.“Neo…” His voice was low, rough, a warning I wanted to ignore.I swallowed, words failing me. My feet moved before my brain caught up, closing the last inches between us. Heat radiated from him, and my body betrayed me, leaning forward, drawn to him as if gravity had changed its rules.His hand hovered near my cheek, just brushing, teasing, stopping short of contact. My heartbeat thundered against my r
Don’t Tempt MeNEOI couldn’t breathe.The second Anne’s door shut behind her, silence flooded the penthouse—tightening around my lungs. My head was still stuck on those photos. The angle. The comments. The way the entire internet somehow saw something I’ve been clawing at myself not to see..Close to my bodyguard.Why do they look like that?Some of the comments kept replaying in my head. People said Daniel and I looked like lovers while others said we seemed close.I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, trying to crush the thoughts out of my skull. Stupid. All of it was stupid. Just photos. Just rumors. Just people projecting.Except my hands were still shaking. It wasn't about the photos in general. It was about me. The thought of Daniel and me becoming that close scared me. And every time I blinked, all I saw was Daniel’s face when he took the phone from me. Calm. Cold. Controlled. Like he was swallowing a storm whole.I hated how safe that made me feel.I pushed up from t
BreachedDANIEL’S POVThe headline didn’t bother me.The look on Neo’s face did.His hand trembled when he passed me the phone. Barely there, a flicker in his fingers, but I felt it like a punch under my ribs.Neo and His Bodyguard: Why Do They Look So Close?Close.If they knew how close I wanted him—I shut that thought down before it could finish.My jaw ticked once as I scrolled through the photos. The angle wasn’t from across the street. It wasn’t a paparazzi hidden in a bush. It was someone inside. Someone who knew exactly where he’d be standing. Not a fan.Fans didn’t move like this.I lifted my head, found Neo watching me like he expected me to explode. I didn’t give him that satisfaction. I never give him chaos—he has enough of it inside his head.“We’re leaving,” I said quietly.He nodded before he realized he’d done it. He always listened when I use that tone. He hates it, but he listens.I placed a hand on his back to guide him. I didn’t need to. I shouldn’t have. But he
Where You Go, I GONEOThe door slammed before I even realized Daniel was moving. One second he was standing there, jaw clenched, eyes cutting through me like he was trying to hold himself together, and the next… he was gone. Just gone.The echo of it rippled through the house and straight through my chest.For a moment I couldn’t move.Couldn’t breathe.I clutched the fork so hard it almost broke. Anne said something about posting the pictures she took on Instagram, but I didn’t care. My head was a mess. All I could hear was my own pulse thundering in my ears and the ghost of his voice when he muttered that stiff, broken “I’ll be back.”He left because of me. Probably because of what almost happened in the kitchen last night.I swallowed and pushed back from the table. My throat felt tight, like someone’s hand was still around it—his hand—and the memory hit so hard my breath stuttered.“You can carry on. I have something to work on in my room,” I said to Anne as I wiped my lips with







