Between The Lines

CHAPTER SIX: Inappropriate Attachments

They say the first time is a mistake.

The second time is a decision.

The third?

That’s a full-blown addiction.

Callum and I didn’t stop.

We tried.

Swore we would.

Had a very mature, professional, completely pointless conversation about boundaries the next morning.

Then he texted me during a board meeting:

You looked so pretty pretending to take notes.

Bet your thighs are warm under that skirt.

I’m losing my mind.

I excused myself to the restroom.

He met me there five minutes later.

That’s how it started.

Elevator walls. Executive restrooms. After-hours lounges.

And, once — on the hood of his car in the underground parking lot with his tie shoved into my mouth to keep me quiet.

We were chaos wrapped in suits and secrets.

And I loved it.

I loved him.

Even if I hadn’t admitted it out loud yet.

But love doesn’t stay hidden forever.

And that day — the day we almost got caught again — started like any other.

I was in his office, pretending to deliver quarterly updates. He was sitting behind his desk, looking at me like I was dessert.

I leaned across to point something out on a graph.

He leaned forward too — close, too close.

“I hate this desk,” he whispered.

“Why?”

“Because I can’t get to you fast enough.”

I smirked. “You sound like a man in distress.”

“I’m a man in denial.”

Then he stood.

Rounded the desk.

And pulled me into him so fast, my tablet clattered to the floor.

He kissed me like the world had stopped spinning — hands under my skirt, lips on my neck, teeth grazing skin that should’ve been sacred.

But this time, the door didn’t stay closed.

“Sir—”

The voice cut off.

We froze.

Callum turned like a wolf caught mid-feast.

At the door: Ethan, his junior partner. Pale. Wide-eyed. Holding a folder and clearly rethinking his entire career.

“Oh my God—” I choked.

Ethan blinked. “I—I didn’t— I’ll just—”

Callum straightened, eyes sharp and cold. “You didn’t see anything. Understood?”

Ethan nodded too quickly. “Nothing. Saw nothing.”

He vanished.

The silence that followed could’ve killed a lesser woman.

I turned to Callum. “We’re screwed.”

He ran a hand through his hair, then looked at me with that terrifying, glorious intensity.

“No. Not yet. But we’re getting dangerously close.”