CHAPTER 3 "After hours"
949 Words
The office felt different at night.
By eight-thirty, the twenty-seventh floor was a ghost town—desks abandoned, lights dimmed, the only sound the soft hum of ventilation and the distant glow of the city through the glass walls. Ava had stayed late before, but never like this. Never with Dominic Hale still in the building.
She gathered her things, telling herself she’d head straight home. But when she walked past his office, she noticed the light still burning inside.
He was there, of course. Jacket discarded over the back of his chair, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened. His hair, usually perfect, had slipped slightly out of place. He looked less like the untouchable CEO and more like a man at war with exhaustion.
She should’ve kept walking. Instead, she knocked lightly on the frame. “Still here?”
He glanced up, startled for half a second before masking it. “Work doesn’t finish itself.”
“You’ve been at it since six this morning,” Ava said before she could stop herself. “Even CEOs need a break.”
A faint smile tugged at his mouth—so quick she almost missed it. “Is that your professional opinion?”
“It’s common sense,” she countered.
For a long moment, he just looked at her. The weight of his gaze was almost physical, and Ava felt her breath falter. Then he leaned back in his chair. “Sit.”
She hesitated, then crossed the room and sank into the leather chair opposite his desk. The polished wood between them suddenly felt too small, the air too charged.
Dominic closed his laptop with a decisive snap. “Tell me something,” he said. “Why did you come work here?”
The question caught her off guard. He never asked personal things—never cared. “Why?”
“Yes.” He steepled his fingers, studying her like a case file. “You’re competent enough to be anywhere. Why this company? Why… me?”
Ava swallowed. She could’ve given him the rehearsed answer—career growth, prestige, opportunity. But something about the way he watched her, stripped of the usual armor, made honesty slip out.
“I wanted to prove myself,” she admitted. “To see if I could keep up in a place like this. With someone like you.”
Silence stretched between them.
His eyes darkened, unreadable. “And have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Kept up.”
Her pulse quickened. She held his gaze. “Every day.”
Something flickered in his expression—approval, maybe, or something deeper. He leaned forward slightly, his voice lower now. “Most people burn out around me. You don’t.”
“I don’t break easily,” she said softly.
The corner of his mouth curved again, the ghost of a smile. But this time, it lingered.
The air felt different now, heavier, threaded with something unspoken. Ava’s heart pounded, though she forced her posture to remain calm, professional. The desk between them suddenly felt like both a barrier and an invitation.
She shifted in her chair, needing to break the tension. “Do you want me to order dinner in? If you’re staying late—”
“Stay,” he interrupted. His tone was even, but his eyes… his eyes betrayed something else.
Ava froze. “Stay?”
He nodded. “Order food. We’ll work through the proposals together.”
Relief and disappointment tangled in her chest. She forced a small smile. “Of course.”
Thirty minutes later, cartons of Thai food sat open on the desk between them. Ava ate carefully, perching on the edge of her chair while Dominic dug in like a man who hadn’t eaten all day. Which, she realized, he probably hadn’t.
“Don’t tell me you do this every night,” she said, setting down her fork.
He arched a brow. “Do what?”
“Work yourself into the ground.”
“Do you see another way to run this company?” His tone was dry, but there was something vulnerable under it, something he rarely showed.
Ava studied him, the shadows under his eyes, the tension etched into his shoulders. He carried the weight of Hale & Co. like it was stitched into his skin. For a moment, she wanted to reach across the desk, to ease that weight somehow. But she kept her hands firmly on her lap.
“You don’t have to do it alone,” she said instead.
He looked at her for a long moment, then set down his fork. “Maybe not. But people are… unreliable.”
“I’m not,” Ava said before she could stop herself. The words hung in the air, reckless and raw.
His gaze sharpened, locking on hers. Neither of them moved. The hum of the city outside filled the silence, their breaths the only sound in the room.
Then his phone buzzed on the desk, shattering the moment. Dominic snatched it up, his expression hardening as he read the screen. “That’ll be all for tonight,” he said abruptly.
The wall was back up. Just like that.
Ava gathered her things, her heart still racing, her mind replaying the look in his eyes. As she reached the door, his voice stopped her.
“Ms. Reynolds.”
She turned.
For a heartbeat, he looked like he might say something else. Something that wasn’t business. But then his jaw tightened.
“Good work today.”
Her throat went dry. “Good night, Mr. Hale.”
She stepped into the empty hallway, the words echoing in her chest long after the door clicked shut behind her.
- Writer
