One Room
1283 Words
*Chapter 3: One Room*
Day 4 on the job and Damien is sending me to Lagos.
With him.
“Investor meeting,” his assistant says, handing me my itinerary at 7am. “Flight at 10. Hotel is already booked.”
“Booked how?” I ask, flipping the page.
She just smiles. “One suite. Mr. Cole prefers to keep the team together during high-stakes deals.”
Right. The team. Of two.
I texted Damien last night: _Do we really need to share a room?_
He replied in 2 seconds: _Board said cut costs. Any objections, take it up with finance._
Translation: No.
---
The flight is 1 hour. He spends all of it on his phone.
I spend all of it pretending I’m not hyper-aware of his thigh 2 inches from mine.
“Stop fidgeting,” he says without looking up.
“I’m not—”
“You are. You do that when you’re nervous.”
When did he notice that?
We land. Car waiting. 20 minutes to the Eko Hotel.
The investor dinner is at 7. It’s 3pm now.
The bellhop swipes the keycard. Opens the door.
One king bed. One couch. One desk. One bathroom.
And that’s it.
I drop my bag. “This is... cozy.”
Damien kicks the door shut. “It’s a suite.”
“It’s a room.”
“Semantics.”
He throws his jacket on the chair and starts loosening his tie. I should look away. I don’t.
Rule #1 is getting thinner by the minute.
“Shower first?” he asks.
“Me. You can go after.”
He nods. “Dinner’s at 7. We need to be sharp. These guys will dig into your background.”
My background.
Right. _The girl who dated Tyler Cole._
I lock myself in the bathroom and stare at my reflection.
New city. New job. Same mess.
The shower is hot. Too hot. It doesn’t wash away the fact that Damien Cole is 10 feet away in a towel.
I’m drying my hair when there’s a knock.
“Ava. You okay in there?” His voice is muffled.
“Yeah. 2 minutes.”
“You left your laptop out. It’s buzzing.”
I open the door a c***k. He’s in black slacks and a white button-down. Sleeves rolled. Hair still damp.
He’s holding my laptop. And frowning at the screen.
“Tyler’s texting you again.” He turns it so I can see.
3 new messages.
_Please pick up_
_I’m in Port Harcourt. Can we talk?_
_This is about your mom._
My stomach drops. My mom.
“I— I’ll call him later.”
Damien’s jaw ticks. He hands me the laptop. His fingers brush mine. Again.
“Don’t let him distract you tonight. We need this deal.”
He walks away before I can answer.
---
7:00pm. Investor dinner.
20 people. White tablecloths. Damien at the head of the table. Me to his right.
He’s in full CEO mode. Charming, ruthless, cutting through questions like a knife.
I do the strategy numbers. I don’t look at him.
Until halfway through dessert.
“Ms. Monroe,” one investor says. Older man. Smiles too wide. “I heard you used to date Tyler Cole. Small world. He’s quite the character.”
The table goes quiet.
Damien sets his wine glass down. Slow.
“She used to,” Damien says. His voice is even. “Now she works for me. And she’s the reason our Q3 projections are up 14%.”
The investor blinks. “Of course. My apologies.”
Meeting over. We won them.
In the car back, neither of us talks.
Until Damien breaks.
“You should’ve told me your mom was sick.”
I stare out the window. “It’s not relevant.”
“It is if Tyler’s using it to get to you.”
I turn to him. “Why do you care?”
He doesn’t answer. Just stares straight ahead.
“Rule #1, Ava.”
---
Back in the room at 10:30pm.
I’m exhausted. He’s wired.
“I’m taking the couch,” I say immediately.
Damien laughs. Actually laughs. “The couch is 4 feet long. You’re 5’6. You’ll fall off.”
“I’ll manage.”
He tosses me a pillow and a blanket. “Fine. But if you fall, I’m not catching you.”
Liar.
I set up on the couch. He gets in bed. Lights off.
For 10 minutes it’s quiet.
Then:
“Are you asleep?” he asks in the dark.
“No.”
“Good. Because I need your brain for 5 minutes.”
He clicks the lamp on. Sits up in bed. Laptop open.
“I can’t sleep either,” I admit, sitting up. Blanket around me.
He pats the empty space on the bed. “Come here. We’ll go over the deck.”
My brain screams _Rule #1_.
My feet move anyway.
I sit on the edge of the bed, far from him. We go over slides. Numbers. Risks.
His shoulder brushes mine when he leans over to point at something.
Neither of us moves.
“Here,” he says. Hands me his laptop. “You type. My hands are tired.”
So I do. Sitting on his bed. At 11:30pm. In hotel pajamas.
He’s close. I can smell his shampoo.
“Ava,” he says quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Why’d you leave him?”
The question hits like a punch.
“Because he lied. Because he wanted me to be someone I wasn’t. Because—” My voice cracks. “Because staying was going to break me.”
Damien is quiet for a long time.
Then: “He doesn’t deserve you.”
I look up. He’s watching me. Not as a CEO. As a man.
“Neither do you,” I whisper. “Not if Rule #1 still stands.”
His eyes drop to my mouth. For half a second.
Then he closes the laptop.
“Get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”
I go back to the couch. My heart is pounding so loud I’m sure he can hear it.
At 2am I wake up to cold air. The AC is blasting.
I’m shivering.
Before I can think, Damien is there. Standing over me. Holding a duvet from the bed.
“You’re freezing.”
“I’m fine—”
He crouches. Tucks the duvet around me. His hands are careful. Gentle. Nothing like the ice king from the elevator.
“Damien—”
“Shh.” He brushes a piece of hair from my face. His thumb lingers on my cheek. “Go to sleep, Ava.”
He stays there for 3 seconds too long.
Then he stands and goes back to bed.
I don’t sleep the rest of the night.
---
7am.
He’s already dressed. Coffee in hand.
He hands me one. Black. Exactly how I like it.
“How did you—”
“I asked your assistant on day 1.”
Of course he did.
We check out in silence. At the airport, he walks me to my gate.
“Investors signed,” he says. “Deal’s 40% done.”
“That’s good.”
He nods. Then, quieter: “Last night... didn’t happen.”
I nod. Even though my cheek still tingles where he touched me.
“Rule #1.”
“Rule #1,” he repeats.
He turns to leave. Stops.
“Ava.”
“Yeah?”
“If he contacts you again about your mom, you tell me. Immediately.”
It’s not a request.
He walks away.
And I’m left holding coffee, a blanket that smells like him, and a rule I’m already breaking.
---
Coming next
*Chapter 4: He Shows Up*
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