Falling For Mr. Tyson

Was He looking At Me?!!

Chloe

"Holy mother of macaroni, Hendrix Tyson is so damn handsome! I completely withdraw my comment calling him a wrinkled old billionaire," Nina pouted, waving a half-eaten piece of fried chicken in the air before taking a massive bite.

We were crammed into a corner booth at a bustling bistro down the street from Tyson Corp, attempting to fill our empty stomachs exactly five minutes after surviving the most intimidating pitch of our careers.

And damn it, Nina wasn't lying. Hendrix Tyson was a walking masterpiece. We had all walked into that boardroom fully expecting an ancient, bitter man with salt-and-pepper. Instead, we were met by a living Greek god.

Even now, my mind kept involuntarily replaying the sensory details of those piercing icy blue eyes, his meticulously styled dark hair, his full unreadable pink lips, and a chiseled jawline so sharp it looked like a weapon. He had been clad in an impeccably tailored dark suit, and even seated, his massive broad-shouldered frame radiated a terrifyingly masculine, intimidating height.

"Oh, count me in on that apology tour," Anna chimed in, resting her chin in her hands with a dreamy sigh. "I shouldn't have said he looked seventy. My soul left my body the second he looked up from his iPad."

"Well, it's too late for regrets now, ladies," Shane muttered, aggressively stabbing a fork into his pasta. "But my real question is - why doesn't he want cameras around? If I were that wealthy and that handsome, my face would be plastered on every magazine, newspaper, and billboard in the world."

Anna snapped out of her trance, narrowing her eyes at him. "Keep dreaming, Shane. That's the only place it's ever happening for you."

Shane pouted, slouching down in his seat like a scolded puppy.

Suddenly Anna's eyes sparked with mischief. She dropped her fork, leaning over the table toward Nina and me. "Wait - was I the only one who felt Mr. Tyson checking out our team leader?"

A jolt of surprise shot through me, my glass stopping halfway to my mouth.

"You saw that too?!" Nina shrieked, slamming her chicken down on her plate.

"YES!" Anna squealed, bouncing in her seat.

"I knew it!" Nina gasped, clutching her hands together. "I thought I was hallucinating out of sheer panic, so I didn't want to say anything in the elevator!"

"What kind of nonsense are you guys spilling right now?" I stammered, my cheeks instantly bursting into a betraying heat. "That is not true. Stop it."

"Chloe, if we saw him checking you out, there's zero problem," Nina countered, a wicked smirk spreading across her lips. "The man is officially divorced. He's single, Chloe. Stop acting like he's forbidden."

"It doesn't matter if he's single, divorced, or the king of England," I hissed, keeping my voice low. "He's our potential client. He was evaluating our professional presentation."

But my thoughts were a chaotic, twisting storm. Deep down, a terrifying, thrilling sensation prickled beneath my skin. I had felt his eyes on me. The entire thirty minutes I was speaking, his gaze had been a heavy, magnetic weight burning straight through my corporate armor.

But I refused to let myself believe it!

He was a ruthless billionaire tycoon - probably just looking for flaws in our designs, calculating how much our acoustics panelling would cost his empire.

It didn't mean anything!

"Hey, don't look at me, I saw it too," Shane added, raising his hands as I shot him a glare. "The man looked like he wanted to devour you, Chloe. Or fire us. Honestly, fifty-fifty vibe."

"Great. Wonderful. All three of you have a serious problem with your eyes," I threw my hands up. "He was just listening! He's a hands-on CEO!"

"No way," Nina insisted, pointing her fork at me with certainty. "That man had his eyes locked entirely on you. He didn't look at Anna once, ignored Shane completely, and looked at our blueprints like they were a distant second to whatever you were wearing."

"Okay, enough," I interrupted firmly. "Let's not dissect something you guys completely misread. Mr. Tyson was not watching me that way. Let's focus on what actually matters - getting the ABC Interiors contract approved."

"You're right," Nina relented with a defeated sigh, slumping back into the booth. "I just hope we get this project. The corporate benefits are going to be life-changing."

"Exactly," I said, smoothing down my blouse. "So let's just eat."

They finally went back to their food. But halfway through my meal, my phone rang. I pulled it out, and my heart softened at the caller ID.

"Guys, my mom is calling. I'll be right back."

I slipped out through the heavy glass doors and stepped into a quiet, shaded alleyway. "Hey, Mom."

"Chloe, sweetheart! How are you, my love? I miss you so much." My mother, Sarah's warm, familiar voice washed over me, instantly making me feel like the little girl who used to run through the fields back home. "I was just telling your father how I wish you could visit more often."

A wave of homesickness hit me, but I forced a cheerful tone. "I miss you too, Mom. Work has completely consumed my time lately. ABC Interiors is in the middle of a massive corporate bid, but I promise I'll make it up to you soon."

"Fine, fine, I know my girl is out there conquering New York," she chuckled softly.

"Where's Dad?"

"Oh, your father? He's right here in the kitchen with me, trying to fix the leaky faucet," she said and I heard her call out, "Jerry! Jerry, pick up the extension, it's our angel!"

Then she asked, "Do you want to talk to him?"

"Yes."

A second later, his deep, raspy voice filled the line. "Hey, my Angel. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Dad. Just surviving the corporate chaos."

Hearing his voice always brought a quiet emotion to my throat. Jerry Murphy wasn't my biological father - my real father had abandoned my mother the moment she found out she was pregnant, leaving her terrified and alone. But Jerry had walked into our lives when I was a toddler, loved my mother fiercely, married her, and legally adopted me as his own flesh and blood. He was the only father I had ever known. Years later they had been blessed with a son - my little brother - but tragedy had taken him young, and that loss made our small family hold onto each other even tighter.

"So tell me," Jerry's voice broke through my thoughts. "How is Dalton doing? Is he keeping you smiling out there in the big city?"

The smile instantly died on my face.In the chaos of the Tyson presentation, I had completely forgotten I hadn't told my parents about the breakup.

They absolutely adored Dalton. He had visited over the holidays, putting on his perfect "golden boy" mask - helping Dad in the garage, sweet-talking Mom. They truly believed he was the perfect man for me.

"Dad..." My voice suddenly went small. "Dalton and I are no longer together."

"What?" My dad's voice instantly lost its warmth, turning into a low, protective rumble. "Did that young man hurt you, Chloe? Do I need to come up there and teach him a lesson?"

In the background, my mother's frantic voice rose. "What is it, Jerry? What happened? Put it on speaker!"

"Mom, Dad, please breathe," I pleaded, rubbing my temples.

I knew if I told them the graphic details of catching Dalton with another woman on our custom silk sheets, my stepfather would board the next flight with a crowbar and my mother would have a full panic attack.

"Everything is settled. It was mutual. He's in the past now."

"Oh, my baby, I'm so sorry," Mom said, her voice breaking. "You shouldn't be alone through a heartbreak like this."

"I'm not alone," I whispered, blinking back a sudden tear. "I have Nina, and my colleagues are being amazing. Everything is going to be fine. I'm focusing 100% on my career now."

"Alright... please extend my love to Nina. Thank goodness she's there," Mom sighed.

"I will. But I really have to go - my friends are about to send a search party." I looked through the window and saw Nina furiously arguing with Shane over a piece of pie.

"Love you guys. Bye."

The call clicked dead. I let out a long, shaky breath, a bittersweet smile on my lips. Their love was a fierce, protective shield - exactly what I needed to wash away the last sting of Dalton's ghost.

But as I reached for the door handle, a thought crossed my mind, completely unbidden.

Was Hendrix Tyson really checking me out?

I shook my head, silently scolding myself as I pushed the door open.

Stop it, Chloe. You're losing your mind. I forced the image of his striking blue eyes out of my head, slipped my phone into my pocket, and marched back inside to join the squad.