Delilah slammed the door to her office harder than necessary.
Her assistant, Tasha, looked up from her desk, startled. "Bad client?"
Delilah tossed her bag onto the chair. "Worse. Hunter Bancroft."
Tasha blinked. "Wait---the Hunter Bancroft? The one with the yacht named after his ex?"
Delilah groaned. "Yes. And he just called me."
Tasha's eyes widened. "To yell at you?"
"To flirt."
Now Tasha looked like she'd been hit with a plot twist. "Girl, what?"
Delilah paced the room, her heels clicking like a countdown. "He said he doesn't like being told no. I told him he's going to hate me."
Tasha whistled. "Savage."
Delilah didn't smile. She felt... off. Like she'd stepped into a game she didn't agree to play.
"He's dangerous," she said quietly.
Tasha tilted her head. "Because he's rich?"
"No. Because he's charming. And bored. And used to getting what he wants."
Delilah sat down, rubbing her temples. She couldn't afford distractions. Not now. Her firm was barely two years old. Her brother's tuition was due. Her mother's medical bills weren't going to pay themselves.
Hunter Bancroft was a detour she couldn't take.
But her heart? It hadn't gotten the memo.
Because when he'd said her name on the phone, low and amused, something in her chest had fluttered. And when he laughed after she hung up?
She'd smiled.
Just for a second.
And that scared her more than anything.