A date?
1227 Words
Dominic’s POV
She knocked once, then stepped in before I could answer.
Quite confident, or pretending to be. She stood framed by the glass door like a question I wasn’t ready to answer.
“You asked to see me, Mr. Steele?”
I motioned for her to close the door, then gestured to the chair across from my desk. She didn’t sit immediately. Smart. I could respect that.
“Sit, Miss Grey.”
She obeyed, posture straight, chin lifted just enough to border on defiance.
"I appreciate your analysis on the reports, the financial and legal team will be taking it from there. Good job!" I commended sincerely.
"Thank you, sir"
“Miss Grey,” I said, clearly my throat.
“Yes, sir?”
I held out a file. “You’ll accompany me to the client dinner tonight. Halvorson’s legal head requested a familiar face from my office.”
She blinked. “Me?”
I don’t blame her. I don’t usually bring assistants to meetings unless they are used as shields or silencers.
I leaned back, steepling my fingers beneath my chin. “You’ve reviewed all communications. You know their tone, their red lines. It won’t be a long evening.”
Her eyes narrowed just slightly. “I wasn’t aware I was on the executive relations team, sir.”
She was bold and sharper than most. I liked that more than I should.
“You’re not.” I paused, eyes narrowing "But as my secretary, you should always be ready to take on any responsibility or task assigned to you since I share more confidential details with you. And that's because I trust you.”
The air in the room shifted. Her lips parted, just a little, her breath catching like she hadn’t expected that word to come from my mouth.
Hell... I hadn’t either.
It was a mistake.
She stared at me for a beat too long. “Sir...”
“Well until you give me a reason not to.” I immediately added.
Her gaze sharpened. There it was, the return of the woman who didn’t flinch.
She nodded slowly, the sarcasm returning behind her eyes. “Good to know I’m walking on invisible glass.”
“I thought you liked a challenge, Miss Grey.”
“So I’m being tested.”
“No. You’re being invited to prove what you already know.”
She tilted her head. “That you make impulsive decisions?”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
“Pick you up at seven.”
Her lips twitched like she wanted to say something more, something that might sting, but she held it back.
Instead, she rose from her seat and nodded once. “I’ll be ready.”
And just like that, she was gone, leaving the room colder, the silence louder.
But her scent lingered.
And so did the strange weight of those damn words.
Emma’s POV
What... Just... Happened?!
He said he trusted me. Dominic Steele, the same man who fires people mid-sentence if their email font looks wrong? The same man whose name made my father lose everything?
I walked back to my desk in a daze, the file in my hand and my pulse in my throat.
Trust?
It wasn’t the word that scared me.
It was how he said it.
Like it mattered.
Like I mattered.
For a split second, I almost forgot why I was here. Almost forgot the revenge, the pain, the legacy I was here to dismantle.
This wasn’t part of the plan. I was supposed to stay cold and calculated, stick to my checklist, gather evidence, and tear Dominic’s world down brick by brick.
Not sitting in my desk chair, feeling like I just got hit by a moving train made of power, regret, and charm I didn’t ask for.
This dinner…
I didn’t want to go.
But I had to, because the more Dominic lowered his walls, the more cracks I saw. And somewhere in those cracks, I’d find what I needed.
The closer I got, the more dangerous this game became.
I couldn’t let myself care.
Not about him, not about his smile, not about the way my name sounded in that gravel-wrapped voice of his.
This was war.
And he just showed me his first vulnerability.
Now it was my move.
I just had to keep my heart out of it.
Whatever that moment was, whatever that look was... it wasn’t real.
It couldn’t be.
Dominic’s POV
I don’t usually pick people up. I send a driver, I delegate, I keep a distance.
But something about tonight…
I found myself parked in front of her apartment building, watching the seconds blink by on the dashboard clock like they owed me something.
6:57 p.m.
Three minutes.
I wasn’t nervous. I didn’t get nervous.
And yet when the door opened and she stepped out, my grip on the steering wheel tightened. Not in frustration, something else.
Damn.
I didn’t know what I expected. Something plain, neutral, or predictable.
But this?
She was wearing a navy-blue satin dress, modest neckline, high slit, the kind that didn’t scream for attention but made you look twice. No, ten times.
Her curves were wrapped in elegance, not effort. Her hair was pulled into a soft updo, a few tendrils escaping to frame her face, cheekbones sharp, lips painted in a soft gloss, and eyes...
Those damn hazel eyes.
Tonight, they looked... unreadable.
I stepped out before I realized it.
She paused when she saw me. Her lips parted just slightly, not surprise, not discomfort… something else. Caution?
“You clean up well,” I said. My voice was low, rougher than intended.
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
She smirked, barely. “You shouldn’t be. I don’t wear power suits all the time.”
That smirk, that mouth... dangerous.
"Get it together, Dominic," I told myself.
I opened the passenger door for her.
Chivalry wasn’t in my usual playbook, but something about tonight wasn’t usual.
She slid in, smooth and composed, her perfume slipping into the air, subtle and addictive.
I was starting to forget who Miss Grey really is to me. My employee.
I went around, got in, and started the engine.
She glanced at me. “You didn’t send a driver sir?”
“I wanted to pick you up.”
“Sorry?”
I kept my eyes on the road. “Because I could.”
I could feel her watching me, dissecting every word the same way I’d dissected her entrance.
Tonight wasn’t just business.
Something about her presence was throwing off my rhythm. The man who planned everything down to the breath was now wondering what color her eyes looked under candlelight.
I needed to remember who I was.
But for the first time in years… I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.
Emma’s POV
I saw it.
The way his eyes moved when I stepped out, slow and deliberate.
For a second, I didn’t feel like a secretary, or a spy, or someone on a mission.
I felt like a woman.
A woman is being seen.
Dominic Steele hadn’t blinked when CEOs tried to intimidate him in boardrooms. But tonight, he blinked when he saw me.
That was power.
And that power? I planned to use it.
Even if my own heart had started playing a dangerous game.
- Writer
