Chapter 2 The Heat Between

Alfreda wasn't new to intensity. Boardrooms filled with egos, men twice her age trying to diminish her-she'd faced it all. But the kind of intensity Nathaniel Vetrova brought to the room wasn't just corporate. It was personal. Magnetic. Dangerous in a way that tugged at places she kept buried.

Three days into her role, and the air between them was already thick with something unsaid. Nathaniel didn't flirt-he didn't need to. He looked at her like he already owned her. And Alfreda hated how her body responded, despite her better judgment.

Late evening, the office had mostly emptied. The city lights glimmered outside the floor-to-ceiling windows as Alfreda typed away at her desk in the executive wing. She didn't even hear him approach until his voice sliced through the silence.

"You work late," he said, casually leaning against the edge of her desk.

Alfreda kept typing, refusing to let her heartbeat betray her. "I like to be prepared."

"I noticed." His eyes scanned her face, then her mouth. Slowly. Deliberately.

She finally looked up. "Was there something you needed, Mr. Vetrova?"

"Call me Nathaniel."

The way he said it made her stomach twist. She straightened her back, raising a brow. "If this is about the merger reports, I sent them to your office already."

"It's not about reports." His voice lowered, silk over steel. "It's about you."

Her breath caught.

He stepped closer, not touching her-but the heat of his presence coiled around her. "You've been here three days, and I already know you're dangerous."

She stood, needing space, but he followed the motion with sharp eyes. "I'm just doing my job."

"You're doing more than that," he said, now barely inches from her. "You're thinking like me. You anticipate moves before I make them. That kind of intelligence... that kind of fire-it's rare."

She swallowed hard, his words stoking something she couldn't name. "And you don't like being matched, do you?"

Nathaniel smiled. It was dark, intimate, filled with a warning she didn't fully understand. "I crave being matched. But only by someone strong enough to handle me."

Alfreda felt her pulse between her ribs, deep and demanding. "Is this how you test all your employees?"

"No. Just the ones I want to break the rules with."

There it was-no games, no pretense.

She should walk away. She should shut it down. But instead, her voice dropped to a whisper. "And what if I don't break easily?"

Nathaniel moved even closer, now so near she could feel his breath on her cheek. "Then I'll enjoy every second of the fight."

For one taut second, neither of them moved. The tension crackled, hot and electric, between their locked eyes and unspoken desire.

Then, slowly-his hand brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, a fleeting touch that left her skin burning. His fingers lingered, his thumb grazing the corner of her jaw.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Alfreda," he murmured. "Bright and early."

And just like that, he was gone-leaving her heart racing, her knees weak, and her mind tangled in a thousand what-ifs.