pte

uld feel the heat radiating off him, the aura of power and control that seemed to engulf the space around us. My breath caught in my throat, my heartbeat picking up speed as he moved ever s

e most unsettling part of it all was how he still held my gaze, never once breaking the connection. His eyes were sharp, unblinking, like they could see straight through me. I could feel him sear

, the bad, the broken. He didn't need to say

tened up and strode toward the door. His footsteps were deliberate, and he didn't look back once,

ing to me in sharp waves. I swallowed thickly, my throat dry, like I had swallowed a bottle of heavy cough syrup. My hands trembled as I grabbed the drinks and made my way back t

for her drink, her eyes scanning my face, searching for answers I wasn't sure I had.

ink from my glass. The hairs on the back of my neck were sti

trigue. She leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixed on mi

nother drink, hoping the alcohol would help calm the storm of nerves buzzing through my body. But it w

as if expecting someone else to confirm what I had just experienced. Her eyes were darting from one

king stare was seared into my brain, like a brand I couldn't escape. How

e hell

th my coworkers chatting and laughing like there was no work to be done. As if they didn't have deadlines looming over them, they just went

age of his piercing gaze. The assignment in front of me was enough to occupy my mind-for now. The medium-sized project felt like it was swallowing me whole, the pag

edit like the one I had been working on last week. That had nearly broken me. How di

' dialogue, making sure everything flowed smoothly. I checked for grammatical errors, double-checked the sentence structures, and made sure there was noth

d at me, the way his presence had swallowed up the space around us. How could someone make you feel both so sm

do. I was an intern, and I had to prove I was more than just some random person hire

r with my own set of responsibilities, a voice in the compan

ity depended on it. It was the only thing I could focus on right now, and the on

back to C.J. Cole. What was his deal? What di

d answers. And the