Chapter Three: After the Night
The first light of morning crept through the half-drawn curtains, soft and pale against the polished wooden floor. She stirred, eyelids fluttering open, and for a heartbeat, reality hadn't returned. The warmth beside her was gone.
Her chest tightened as the memory of last night rushed back his hands, his voice, the brush of his lips against hers. She sat up slowly, fingers tracing the space where he had been. His scent lingered in the air clean, magnetic, intoxicating and her lips tingled as if remembering his touch.
She was still partially undressed, the remnants of their closeness clinging to her, but the room felt suddenly empty, quiet, and achingly lonely.
"Where…?" she whispered to herself, heart pounding. "Where did he go?"
She checked her phone, half-expecting a text, a note, a clue anything but there was nothing. Not a single word.
Kai had left before she woke, the door silently closing behind him. He didn't know her name. He didn't know she was the CEO's wife. And yet, he had touched her like he had known her forever.
Meanwhile, somewhere downtown, Kai walked briskly through the city streets, coat pulled tight against the chill. His thoughts kept drifting back to her her lips, the way she had shivered under his touch, the gentle curve of her hands as she had clung to him. He could still feel her in his arms, the way she had relaxed against him as though she belonged there
God, he thought, shaking his head. Who is she?
He didn't know her name. She didn't know his. But the memory of her had burrowed into him, impossible to ignore.
By mid-morning, the office was alive with its usual buzz. The receptionist, Clara, greeted employees with her bright energy, unaware of the tension brewing upstairs. Marcus, the CEO's right-hand man, was pacing near the boardroom, phone pressed to his ear, exuding a mix of authority and impatience.
Lydia, an ambitious junior executive, and Ethan, the charming IT specialist, were already gossiping by the coffee machine, oblivious to the storm about to hit.
And then she walked in.
And then she walked in.
The CEO's wife, radiant and composed, but with eyes slightly shadowed from a restless night, appeared at the elevator doors. Her coat was draped elegantly over her arm, hair perfectly styled despite the late hour, and there was a faint, mysterious gleam in her eye one that suggested secrets she wasn't ready to reveal.
Kai looked up from his desk, his heart catching mid-beat. She was here.
She froze, scanning the office until her gaze landed on him. And for a moment, it was as if the world slowed. Her eyes widened in shock not just surprise, but a flaring recognition. The man who had walked out of her apartment hours ago, leaving her breathless and restless… was here, at her office, in plain sight.
Kai felt it too the pull, the danger, the thrill. But he kept his expression neutral, though inside, a storm raged.
Around them, life carried on. Clara adjusted the sign-in sheet, Marcus ended a phone call with a sigh, Lydia whispered something about a new client to Ethan, and yet for those two, the office had become a private battlefield.
She straightened, calming her rapid heartbeat. He doesn't know who I am. And I can't let him.
Kai leaned back slightly, pretending to review reports on his screen, but he couldn't stop his mind from replaying the feel of her in his arms, the soft warmth of her skin, the way she had pressed close without hesitation.
The tension was unbearable. Words unsaid hung thickly in the air, promises unspoken, desires unacknowledged. And yet, both knew though neither admitted it they would see each other again that night. Somehow. Inevitably.
But for now, the day would stretch long, and the office would hum around them, oblivious to the dangerous game unfolding in its midst.