chapter 5_ Ethan's pov

It's been two whole days.

That was how long it had been since I stepped into Alexander Blackwood’s office and saw him again. I promised myself I’d treat him like every other assignment, nothing more than a job . I've spent the last two days battling with myself.I haven't been able to get over him, since our little encounter at Dunn's Haven. Which is a little frustrating cause my job does not go well when it's mixed with pleasure,and that said pleasure involves a client. Why did it have to be him of all people, something I keep asking myself since I stepped into that office.

It's been two long frustrating days of trying not to think about our bathroom encounter

And painfully failing at it .

I hated myself for it, the way memories slipped into my head when I least expected it. His hand gripping the back of my neck. The sweet sound he made while I kissed his soft plumb and beautiful lips . The taste of whiskey when his mouth crushed mine. Every damn detail haunted me, refusing to let go.

But what haunted me more than anything was the fact that he hadn’t forgotten either. I could see it in his eyes every time they caught mine, a flicker of mischief, or a taunt. He knew but he wasn't saying anything. Or maybe it's just all in my head .

I told myself professionalism mattered an all. That my job came first, always. I’d been through hell before,poverty, betrayal, heartbreak and I’d survived by building walls so thick nobody could climb them. But the second Alexander Blackwood looked at me with that infuriating smirk, I felt cracks forming in places I swore I’d reinforced.

To make matters worse, there was Aiden.

The first day on duty, I noticed immediately how close Aiden was with him. He sat on Alex’s couch like it belonged to him, leaning forward with easy familiarity, tossing private jokes back and forth that I wasn’t privy to. He touched Alex’s shoulder once,casually, but long enough that it made something ugly twist in my stomach.

Fuck.

I hated it. I hated how my pulse quickened, how my jaw clenched every time Aiden got too close. I keep telling myself it didn’t matter. I told myself I didn’t care. But the truth clawed at me anyway.

I cared more than I wanted to..

By the evening of the second day, he had already started poking at the edges of my restraint. Lingering close when we walked. Brushing my arm in the car when he damn well had enough space not to. Dropping sly comments in my direction that no one else in the room would catch but me.

It was deliberate. All of it.

And by the time the night ended, I was hanging by a thread.

I don't understand the kind of games Alex is playing at, but a part of me want to break Aiden's hand whenever it comes close to Alex.

A Lot of thought crossed my mind, one keeps telling me Alex could be hooking up with his beloved Assistant. But I refuse to acknowledge or entertain such train of thought. Maybe they had a thing or two before .

The penthouse hall was quiet except for the echo of our footsteps. Alex walked ahead, jacket draped carelessly over one arm, his tie loosened at his throat. He looked unfairly good like that, untidy but somehow more appealing .

I kept my eyes forward, refusing to let them wander. Professional. Controlled. Business minded.That’s who I was. I kept saying the words like a mantra

“You’re quieter tonight,” Alex said suddenly, glancing back at me with that damned knowing smile.

“I’m doing my job, and i was never chatty.” I replied, the same answer I’d given him a dozen times in the past forty eight hours.

“Your job must include glaring at Aiden like you wanted to break his neck earlier.” His tone was light, teasing, but it landed like a strike to the chest.

I stiffened, the hall way became suddenly hot . “I wasn’t glaring.”

He stopped walking. Turned to face me, amusement glittering in his eyes. “No? Because it sure looked like it. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”

My pulse stuttered. “Jealous?” I repeated, voice flat.

“Yeah,” he drawled, taking a step closer. “You know green eyed monster,that is irrational and possessiveness, the whole thing. Sound familiar?”

I locked my jaw, forcing my expression into stone. “You’re imagining things. Nothing of sort happened.”

He tilted his head, studying me like I was one of his contracts he intended to break apart clause by clause. “Am I?”

I held his gaze for a few seconds, my legs refusing to move. The silence stretched.

Then he smiled, a slow, wicked, and dangerous smile. “You’ve been trying so hard to act like you don't recognize me. But the way you looked at me today? You gave yourself away.”

“Drop it,” I ground out, trying not to sound harsh or anything.

But of cause Instead of dropping it, he closed the space between us.

The hall lights caught the edge of his jaw, the unruly strands of dark hair that had fallen over his forehead. He stopped only a foot away, close enough that I could smell the faint trace of his cologne,woody, clean, devastatingly familiar.

“Tell me something, Ethan,” he murmured. “If you don’t care… why does it bother you so much when Aiden touches me?”

I swallowed hard, my fists curling at my sides. My throat felt tight, and my body taut as a bowstring. “It doesn’t.”

“Liar,” he whispered, still smiling.

He acts like he is oblivious but he is quite observant.

My heart hammered against my ribs. He was too close, just a little movement forward and our lips will make contact. My instincts screamed to step back, to rebuild the walls he was trying to tear down, but my body wouldn’t listen.

I could feel it,the pull, the same one that got me into this mess few weeks ago.

He leaned in, his breath brushing my ear. “Admit it, Ethan. You don’t like seeing me with him.”

I exhaled shakily, my hand twitching with the urge to grab him, to push him against the wall and kiss that smugness off his pretty mouth until neither of us could breathe.

But I couldn’t. I shouldn’t.

My silence betrayed me.

Alex chuckled low, the sound dark and satisfied. “I knew it.”

His face tilted toward mine, his lips just inches away. My chest ached with the weight of how much I wanted to close that distance, how much I wanted to taste him again.

But I couldn’t.

At the last second, I turned my head, breaking the pull before it consumed me. “This isn’t happening,” I said, voice hoarse.

He smirked, unconvinced. “Not tonight, maybe. But soon.”

I hated how much my body reacted to those words. How it reacts to Alex blackwood.

When I finally slipped into my apartment across the hall, my hands trembled a little.

This wasn’t over. Not even close.

Alex is definitely up to no good and a big part of me Is in for the ride.