His Forbidden Touch

Chapter 2 : The Interview

The air inside Adrian Blackwell’s office was thick, charged, almost suffocating. Elena sat on the leather chair across from him, trying to appear composed, though her fingers betrayed her by tightening against the folder she carried.

Adrian didn’t speak right away. Instead, he studied her in silence his steel-gray eyes sharp, intense, and unsettling.

“Tell me,” he finally said, his voice low and deliberate, “what’s the one thing you can offer me that no one else can?”

Elena blinked. “I-I beg your pardon?”

His lips curved faintly, though it wasn’t quite a smile. It was more of a challenge. “I’ve seen countless résumés. Hired dozens of assistants. What makes you different, Miss Carter?”

Her throat tightened. It wasn’t the kind of question she had prepared for. Her mind scrambled, torn between professionalism and the awareness of how close he was how his gaze traced every flicker of her expression like he could read her secrets.

“I’m… adaptable,” she managed to say, though her voice sounded smaller than she intended. “I work well under pressure. I don’t break easily.”

Adrian leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. The movement drew Elena’s eyes unwillingly to the way his suit fit against his broad chest, the way his hands looked powerful even in stillness.

“Don’t break easily?” His tone dipped, softer, darker. “We’ll see about that.”

Heat spread across her skin. His words weren’t just about work—she could feel it, layered beneath his commanding voice.

Elena swallowed hard, forcing herself to look away, but his eyes pinned her back instantly. The tension between them felt almost tangible, as if a thin wire connected them, pulling tighter and tighter.

“Stand up.”

The command startled her. “I-I’m sorry?”

Adrian didn’t repeat himself. His gaze simply hardened, daring her to disobey. Against her better judgment, Elena rose slowly to her feet, her hands brushing nervously against the sides of her skirt.

He leaned back in his chair, eyes roaming over her figure without shame. Not in a crude way, but with a cold, assessing sharpness that made her feel exposed yet strangely breathless.

“You carry yourself well,” he murmured. “Confident, yet cautious. It intrigues me.”

Elena shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, her heart pounding. This wasn’t how interviews were supposed to go. And yet, part of her couldn’t deny the thrill running through her veins.

“You may sit,” he finally said.

She lowered herself back into the chair, her pulse refusing to calm.

Adrian rested his chin against his hand, studying her once more. “Tell me, Miss Carter… do you always obey so easily?”

Her lips parted, but no answer came. His question lingered in the air, heavy, suggestive. She wanted to say no that she wasn’t the kind of woman to bend so quickly. But the truth burned inside her: something about him stripped her defenses away too easily.

A slow smirk touched his lips, as if he already knew.

Elena clutched her folder tighter, desperate to regain her composure. “I… I came here for a job, Mr. Blackwell. Nothing more.”

Adrian’s eyes darkened, his smirk fading into something more unreadable. “We’ll see about that, Miss Carter.”

The way he said it made her chest tighten. She should have been terrified. She should have run. But instead, as his gaze held hers, Elena felt a dangerous truth sink deep inside her

This man was going to test her in ways she wasn’t prepared for.