The office was unusually quiet when the alert came in—urgent, red-flagged, impossible to ignore.
Adrian's brow tightened as he scanned the screen. "This can't wait," he muttered, grabbing his coat. His movements were precise, controlled, every gesture sharp and deliberate.
I followed instinctively, clutching my notebook. "What's happening?" I asked, voice steady despite the pulse hammering in my chest.
"Complications," he replied, not looking at me. "We move now. No mistakes."
The drive was tense, the city streets a blur beneath the headlights. Every time I glanced at him, I caught the faint tightening of his jaw, the rigid set of his shoulders. He was danger in motion—calm, composed, lethal.
When we arrived, the situation was worse than I imagined: a client's urgent problem had escalated into chaos. Papers flew, voices rose, and I felt my own pulse spike with panic.
Adrian was everywhere at once, correcting, commanding, controlling. I tried to keep up, but the weight of his presence, the sharp intensity of his gaze, made my every movement deliberate, cautious.
At one point, he stepped close behind me, his hand brushing against mine as he pointed to a detail I had overlooked. The touch was fleeting, but it sent a jolt through me that I couldn't ignore.
"You're fast, but not careful enough," he murmured, low and measured. His proximity was suffocating, intoxicating. "Focus. Predict. Anticipate."
"I—I understand," I whispered, though my hands shook slightly.
He straightened, eyes dark, unreadable. "Good. You're learning. But remember—the rules don't bend for emotion."
I nodded, the weight of that reminder settling heavy in my chest.
Later, as the situation resolved, he didn't speak. He merely watched, silent and commanding. I realized then that the tether between us had pulled tighter—each shared glance, each brief touch, every unspoken word threading us closer together.
Alone, I thought of the day, the chaos, and the way my heart had betrayed me with each proximity, each fleeting contact. Adrian Blackwood controlled everything around him.
And somehow, impossibly, he was controlling the space inside me too.
Even the rules felt fragile now, bending under the pull of him—and I wasn't sure how long I could resist.