Chapter 5— He's actually admitting it?

Kimberly POV

I pulled myself together because that was the least I could do, and then walked up to the CEO's office.

The walk there felt longer than it should have. In every step down that hallway, I rehearsed a version of myself that looked composed, professional, unbothered … a woman who hadn't spent half the morning replaying a stranger's hands on her body. By the time I reached his door, I almost believed I'd pulled it off.

I stood outside the office for a while before I finally knocked. My knuckles hovered there longer than they needed to, some part of me hoping he'd already left for a meeting, that this whole thing could be postponed to a day when my nerves weren't already frayed thin.

I knocked a second time before he finally replied. "Come in." And that voice was everything.

I held the doorknob and pushed the handle down. The door opened, and I walked in right away, almost looking startled for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around.

His office was bigger than I expected for someone on his first day, already arranged like he'd been sitting behind that desk for years instead of hours. Maybe for the fact that I haven't had any reason to get into the CEO's office before now.

He didn't look up immediately though, and for a second I stood there, unsure whether to speak first or wait to be acknowledged.

Then I walked up to his table, where he was.

"Feeling better?"

Just that question from him made me confirm every sense of doubt I must have had that I must be mixing things up.

‘Wait. He's actually admitting it?’

I almost froze at the thought. I mean, how could I face him as a boss, knowing what he already knew about me?

"You remember," I said, before I could stop myself, the words slipping out before I'd decided whether I wanted to say them at all.

"I remember most things," he said, leaning back slightly in his chair, unbothered, like this was the most ordinary follow-up conversation in the world. "Especially the ones that don't add up on paper."

"A little," I managed to say after some time, with the little composure I put up, choosing to ignore that last part entirely.

"You know, the symptoms won't go away overnight," he replied.

"I'm aware," I said, a little too fast, folding my arms like that might somehow hold the rest of me together.

I hated it that we had to have this conversation, because I wasn't even ready for that at the moment. Standing there in his office, with him behind that desk like he belonged there, and as if the last 24 hours hadn't happened at all… made the whole thing feel unbearably close.

"You know where to find me. Anytime." He added, as if the ones he'd already said weren't enough.

‘Is he offering to…’

I cut off the thought that was forcing its way into my mind. But it was as if I already got an answer to that in my thoughts.

‘No. Stop.’

"That's very generous of you," I said, aiming for ‘dry,’’ landing somewhere closer to ‘breathless’ instead.

"I'm a generous man," he said, and something about the way his mouth curved when he said it made me wonder if he even believed that himself.

Immediately, it seemed my heart was beating three times faster than it should.

‘Damn it. Why is my body reacting now?’

I held on so tight to my dress, and then heaved out heavily, and managed to say, "Thanks. I should get back to work."

And then I turned slightly right away, already halfway convinced I could make it out of that office with whatever dignity I still had intact.

"I didn't say you could leave yet." He said, and then stood up from his office seat and advanced toward me.

"Excuse me?" I turned back around, more out of instinct than intention, and immediately regretted it, because he was already closer than I expected.

He was already a few inches away from me, and then he stretched his hand and held my waist, then pulled me to him at one go.

"Tell me," he said, his voice low, "what are you thinking now?"

I opened my mouth to say something reasonable, something that would put a safe distance between us again, but nothing reasonable came out.

"I want you to touch me," I finally said, and you needed to see the way his face lit up right away with regards to that.

For a second, neither of us moved, and the silence between us felt heavier than anything either of us could have said out loud.

After a while, it all seemed I finally regained myself after I was lost in some thoughts going through my mind.

"Sorry, we're too close." I blurted out loud. "Please, let me go."

But he still held on to me.

"You keep saying that," he murmured, "and yet you haven't actually stepped back."

"Because you're the one holding on," I shot back, though my voice had lost most of its bite by the time it left my mouth.

He didn't answer that. He just studied me for a moment, like he was deciding something, before he finally spoke again.

"Starting from today, you are my secretary."

That snapped something back into place in me. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me."

"I have never done this before," I replied, trying with everything to be as polite as I could be. "And please, with all due respect, I can't just agree to that."

"I am the boss." He said, now with a meaner face and voice. "And what I say goes. So, if you don't like it, do yourself a favor and quit."

"That's not fair," I said, the words out before I could soften them. "You can't just rearrange someone's entire job because it's convenient for you."

"I can," he said simply, "because I own the company."

He said it leaving no room for negotiation. Then I stepped a few steps away from him, needing the distance more than I needed to finish arguing a point I already knew I wasn't going to win.

"You could have anyone for that position," I said, quieter now, almost to myself. "Why me?"

He didn't answer that either, and somehow the silence felt louder than any answer could have.

I wish I could avoid what I could already envisage right in my mind, but the truth was that quitting this job was never what I could imagine at the moment. I'd built too much here, clawed my way up too many rungs, to walk away over one uncomfortable afternoon, no matter how much every instinct in me was screaming that I should.

"I will come to your office tomorrow to resume the new position, sir." I said, and then left instantly, not waiting to hear what his response would be this time.

At least, I needed some space and a little time to have all of this well thought through before I finally gave him a response I actually meant.