Semua Bab When My Body Learned Your Name: Bab 51 - Bab 60

CARSONShe had started watching me differently.Not boldly. Not with invitation.But with awareness.That was the shift.Anna stood in my living room that night with her hands clasped too tightly in front of her, posture straight, chin slightly lifted — the picture of composure. Anyone else would have mistaken it for confidence.I recognized restraint when I saw it.“You’re thinking,” I said, loosening my cufflinks slowly. “That’s always your first mistake.”Her eyes lifted to mine. Steady. Curious. Guarded.“I don’t make mistakes,” she replied.A faint smile tugged at my mouth. “You’re here.”Silence stretched between us, thick and deliberate. She could have left. The door wasn’t locked. I hadn’t touched her.But she didn’t move.I stepped closer, watching the subtle change in her breathing, the way her fingers flexed once before going still again.“You don’t understand what’s happening to you,” I said quietly.Her jaw tightened. “I understand perfectly.”“No,” I corrected. “You anal

ANNAThe city blurred past the tinted windows of the car, and my hands rested lightly in my lap. My pulse beat faster than usual. I had never imagined myself here—not at a place like this, not on a night like this. And yet, with Carson beside me, calm and composed as always, I felt an unsteady thrill, like standing at the edge of something I didn’t understand but was tempted to explore.“I hope you’re ready,” he said casually, his hand brushing mine briefly on the armrest. The touch was fleeting, but it made my stomach twist in a way I couldn’t quite explain.I nodded, trying to mask the flutter of nerves. “I think so,” I said, though my voice sounded lighter than I intended.The club was familiar, though no less intimidating. We had been here before with Diana, his closest friend, who seemed to know everything before anyone else did. Tonight was different, though. Tonight felt… charged.Diana waited for us near the bar, her sharp eyes flicking from me to Carson and back again. She wa

CARSONI noticed it before anyone else would have, because I was the only one watching her closely enough to detect the difference. Anna stopped looking at me. Not dramatically, not in a way that invited speculation or gossip.She still showed up to meetings, still delivered her reports with the same precision that had made the board trust her, still spoke when addressed with composed intelligence. But she stopped looking at me, and that absence was louder than confrontation would have been.It wasn't an obvious avoidance. She didn’t request a transfer. She didn’t refuse proximity. She didn’t bristle when I entered the room. She simply became neutral, professionally impeccable, emotionally inaccessible.The first time I felt it was during the Monday executive briefing. She sat two seats down from me, close enough that I could sense her presence without turning my head. Normally, she would have met my eyes at least once, briefly, cautiously, but with awareness. That morning, her attent

ANNAHe pressed me against the door, gaze holding mine for a second before he kissed me back. His pace increased, kissing me with no caution this time. His hands slid from my waist to my back, pulling me firmly against him.The kiss deepened fast and I felt it everywhere, the heat, the pressure, the way his fingers flexed against me like he was trying to memorize the shape of my body.I pressed closer, my hands moving down his chest. The fabric of his shirt was warm from his skin. Without thinking, I slipped my fingers to his buttons and started undoing them.His breath turned uneven against my mouth and before I could reach the next, he caught my wrist.For a moment, he just stared at me, breathing ragged, like he was standing on the edge of something irreversible.Then he moved.Before I could fully process it, he lifted me off the floor. My legs wrapped instinctively around his waist, my hands gripping his shoulders.He didn’t look away from me as he carried me down the hallway.W

GRACEThe first alert came in at 6:16pmAt first, I thought it was routine. We had firewall notifications often, flagged login attempts, suspicious IP addresses, automated probes from overseas servers fishing for vulnerabilities. Archer Group was too large not to attract attention.But this one didn’t clear.And then another came in.And another.By 7:26, my inbox was flooded with urgent messages from IT, all marked HIGH PRIORITY.Unauthorized access attempts.Encrypted data packets leaving the server.Administrative credentials being mirrored.I was on my feet before I fully processed the implications.“Conference room. Now,” I told my assistant.Within minutes, the head of IT and two security analysts were patching into the big screen. Lines of code streamed down in frantic motion. Red indicators blinked against the network map like open wounds.“Talk to me,” I demanded.“It’s not random,” Daniel, our lead analyst, said tightly. “They’re not just probing. They’re targeting specific