Chapter 6 CEO and the Secret

Michael didn't move.

Not at first.

He just stood there behind his desk, his usually unreadable face flashing with something raw and unmistakable.

Shock.

Recognition.

And a fire that hadn't dimmed one bit since the night she slipped out of his bed.

Vera froze in the elevator doorway, her pulse thundering in her ears. She expected many things walking into this job. Stress. Pressure. Endless coffee runs.

But not him.

Her baby's father.

Her one reckless, unforgettable night.

She took a breath and tried to steady herself. You need this job, Vera. You need to be strong.

Michael finally moved slowly, deliberately as if trying to figure out whether she was real or a dream came to torment him.

"Vera," he said, voice a husky echo of that night. "I was starting to think I imagined you."

She swallowed hard. "I didn't expect to see you again."

His eyes dropped briefly to her stomach flat, for now then back to her face. "Yet here you are. In my building. My office."

"I applied for the PA position. I didn't know... it was your company."

Michael gave a slow, knowing smirk, but something dark flickered in his gaze. "So you disappeared without a name... and now fate sends you right back to me."

"I'm here for a job," she said quickly. "That night... it was one night. It doesn't have to mean anything."

He stepped around his desk, coming closer, his presence like a magnet she couldn't escape. "It meant something to me."

Vera's heart skipped.

She hated how her knees went weak under his gaze. How her lips ached to remember the way he tasted.

But she couldn't afford to get lost again. Not with a baby growing inside her. Not when she had to keep this secret close, at least until she could figure things out.

Michael's eyes swept over her slowly, intense, like he was reading all the things she wasn't saying. "You look... different."

She raised a brow. "Is that a polite way of saying I look like a hot mess?"

He chuckled, and damn it, even that sent heat curling in her belly. "No. You look beautiful. Stronger."

"I've had to be."

Their eyes locked for a heartbeat too long, the air between them crackling.

Then he cleared his throat and stepped back, the mask of the powerful CEO sliding into place. "Very well. If you're here to work, then we'll keep it professional."

Vera nodded quickly, grateful for the distance. "Yes. Absolutely."

But the moment his back was turned, she exhaled shakily.

Professional?

Not a chance in hell.

Not when her body still remembered his touch.

Not when her baby had his eyes.

And especially not when Michael Robb clearly wasn't planning to let her slip away so easily this time.