SPECIE OF LOVE

"THE DEAL"

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*Chapter 4 - THE DEAL*

Damien’s Pov

The penthouse smelled like whiskey and bad decisions.

Josh let himself in without knocking. That was his right. Only friend Damien had who didn’t want something from Cole Holdings. Only person who’d seen him break.

“Talk,” Josh said, dropping onto the leather couch. “You’ve been ghosting calls for 48 hours. Isabella’s blowing up my phone asking if you’re dead.”

Damien poured two glasses. Didn’t offer one to Josh yet. He stared at the city instead. 47 floors down, people were living normal lives. Falling in love. Planning futures. He had a pregnancy test and an assistant who’d seen it all.

“I slept with her,” Damien said. No preamble. “Ava. In the office. On the couch.”

Josh went still. “The invisible one? Five years of coffee and schedules?”

“The same one.” Damien knocked back the whiskey. It burned. Not enough. “She found the test. I panicked. She cried. I… touched her. God help me, I touched her like I’d been waiting five years.”

Josh exhaled slow. “Damien. You have a fiancée. A baby coming. You’re about to be a father.”

“I know.” His voice was raw. “I’m not ready to be a father. And I’m absolutely not ready to lose my child. But Josh… after that day with Ava, I felt something I can’t define yet. It’s not just lust. It’s like she’s been there all along and I was too blind to see her.”

Josh stood up, pacing. “Then you go to Isabella. You apologize. You man up. And you go to Ava and you clear the air. Professionally. No touching. No ‘redoing wrongs’. You fix this before you ruin three lives.”

Damien laughed. Bitter. “You think I can? You think I can look at her and not want her? After five years of watching her disappear into my office walls?”

“I think you have to,” Josh snapped. “Because if you don’t, you’ll lose the baby. You’ll lose Isabella. You’ll lose yourself.”

Damien wasn’t convinced. He picked up his phone instead. Thumb hovered over Ava’s contact. Saved as “Ava - PA”. Five years. He’d never saved her last name.

“She’s going to answer,” he said quietly. “I know she will.”

Josh crossed his arms. “Bet me. $100k. You won’t call her. And even if you do, you won’t bring her here. You’re not that reckless.”

Damien’s storm-gray eyes flashed. “You don’t know me when I want something.”

He hit call.

One ring. Two.

“Hello?” Ava’s voice. Careful. Professional. But he heard the slight catch in her breath.

“Good afternoon, boss,” she said. Like nothing happened. Like he hadn’t shattered her on a staircase two days ago.

Ava’s heart was hammering. Jeez. Did Damien Cole just call her? Not “my coffee”. Not “schedule”. Just… her. After the office. After the stairs. After Isabella.

“Hello, Ava,” he said. Lower now. No boss tone. Just Damien. “I didn’t like the way things ended that day. You might’ve thought I used you. I didn’t. I… I feel something for you. Can you please come over? Let’s talk.”

She gripped the phone. His HOUSE. He was asking her to his house. Not the office. Not neutral ground. His private space. Five years of invisibility and he wanted her in his space.

“Ok, sir,” she whispered. Then giggled, small and disbelieving, once the call ended. Her hands shook. This was it. Seen. Chosen. The five years weren’t wasted.

Damien ended the call and looked at Josh. “Set up the camera in my room.”

Josh froze. “You’re joking.”

“I want you to see it live from the living room,” Damien said. His jaw was tight. “So you’ll know I’m not reckless. So you’ll know I can have what I want and still control it.”

Josh wasn’t relaxed about this. Not because he didn’t have $100k. Because he wanted Damien to see the truth: not all girls are desperate. But he didn’t know Ava. He didn’t know what five years of being unseen does to a woman.

One hour later, the doorbell rang.

Ava arrived in a simple dress. Not red. Not seductive. Navy blue. Professional. Elegant. Invisible, like everything else she wore to Cole Holdings. But her eyes gave her away. Hopeful. Terrified. Alive.

The house manager ushered her in. Damien met her at the foot of the stairs. “Come upstairs,” he said quietly. “Rather than disturb my friend.”

She nodded. Dumbly. Obediently. Five years of “yes, sir” had trained her body before her mind could catch up.

They sat on the edge of his bed. Six feet apart felt like six inches. The air was thick with things unsaid.

Damien didn’t speak at first. He set her bag on the chair. His hands were careful. Then they weren’t. He pulled her down with him until she was lying back against the mattress, his body caging hers.

“Sir, what are you doing?” Her voice shook. Not fear. Not really. Something messier.

“I’m trying to redo my wrongs,” he whispered against her temple. “I’m trying to tell you’re not invisible to me.”

She understood the assignment. God help her, she wanted it too. Five years of prayers and coffee and watching his mouth move. Five years of being a ghost in his world.

He kissed her. Not gentle. Not apologetic. Hungry. Like a man drowning. Her hands fisted in his shirt. Her body arched up into his like she’d been waiting her whole life for permission to want.

The world narrowed to his mouth on hers, his hands on her skin, the sound of her own ragged breathing. It was getting too much. Too sweet. Too dangerous. She was screaming inside her head even as her lips stayed silent.

For an hour the room held only them. Want and regret and five years of silence breaking all at once. He held her like she was something precious and something he was afraid to lose at the same time.

When it was over, he left her on the bed, flushed and trembling. He looked at her like he was obsessed. Like he wanted more but saw she was exhausted. He pressed one kiss to her forehead - soft, nothing like the kisses before - then went to wash up.

Downstairs, Josh’s face said everything. Jealousy. Disgust. Fear for his friend.

Damien smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t bother about the deal. I got something better than money.”

Josh scoffed. “You think you won? You just lost, man. You think she’s desperate. She’s not. She’s in love. And you’re about to destroy her.”

Ava heard their voices as she came down the stairs, dress straightened, lips swollen. She wasn’t sure what they were talking about. She didn’t care. Her skin still tingled. Her heart felt full for the first time in five years.

“Bye, boss,” she said at the door. Small smile. Hopeful eyes.

Damien dragged her in for one last kiss. His hand cupped her face, thumb brushing her cheek like she mattered. Like she was more than a mistake.

“Go home, Ava,” he murmured against her lips. “We’ll talk Monday.”

She ordered a ride. Sat in the backseat staring out the window. Content. Fulfilled. Whole.

The five years of waiting were over.

She didn’t see the camera light blinking upstairs. She didn’t hear Josh’s warning. She didn’t know Damien was already calculating how to keep her without losing the baby.

All she knew was this: He chose her. Finally.

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