4
Eli’s POV
I wasn’t going to go.
That was the plan. Stay away. Keep my head down, do the work, forget about the way she looked at me last time. How she moved when she read that passage. The heat in my chest when she touched my wrist, like she was checking to see if I was real.
But then I got the text.
I’m still in my office. Come by. If you dare.
I stared at it for a long time. Maybe a full minute. Maybe more. My thumb hovered over the screen. I should’ve ignored it, blocked her number and told myself it was a joke.
But it wasn’t.
So I went.
The hallway outside her office was empty, dim. Cleaning staff was somewhere down the corridor, playing music faint in the background. I hesitated at the door, my palm flat against the wood like it was burning hot.
I knocked. Once.
“Come in,
