The CEO Secret First Love

CHAPTER 2 : THE SEAT BESIDE HIM

POV: Adrian Blake

The conference room was already full when Adrian walked in. Twelve senior executives sat around the polished table, folders open, screens glowing. He took his usual seat at the head and glanced at the empty leather chair on his right.

Ethan wasn’t there.

Adrian opened the master file and started the quarterly meeting. He kept his voice even, moving through the first agenda items on regional costs.

Still, every few minutes his eyes drifted back to the empty seat. He checked his phone twice. The second time, a vice president cleared his throat.

“Mr. Blake, should we push the supplier decision to next week? We’re still missing the verified cost figures.”

“No.” The word came out sharper than he meant. “We finish today. Keep going.”

The man nodded and looked down.

Adrian forced his eyes to the wall screen, but the vacant chair kept pulling at him. Ethan always checked these numbers beforehand. Without him there to hand over the reports, the whole discussion felt slow and incomplete.

Fifteen minutes into the market overview, the door opened. Ethan stepped in with a slim folder under his arm. He moved quietly along the wall, slid into the empty chair, and set three printed sheets on the blotter without a word.

The tightness in Adrian’s shoulders eased the moment the papers hit the table. Every needed figure was highlighted. Side notes pointed out two small errors the finance team had missed.

The rest of the meeting ran clean and fast. When the others packed up and left, Ethan stayed, stacking the leftover copies. Adrian stood and reached for his jacket. He swung it on and adjusted the lapels.

Ethan looked up. His eyes narrowed slightly.

“Your tie’s crooked.”

Before Adrian could answer, Ethan stepped closer. His fingers brushed Adrian’s collar, straightened the knot, and smoothed the edge of the shirt.

The touch was light and sure. Adrian went still. His breath caught for a second as Ethan’s knuckles brushed the bare skin of his neck.

Ethan pulled back at once, as if he had only fixed a paper on a desk. He picked up the stack of documents.

“I’ll send the revised summary to the board in twenty minutes.”

“Do that.” Adrian’s voice came out lower than usual.

Ethan nodded and walked out. Adrian stayed by the table a moment longer. He could still feel the faint pressure of those fingers against his throat. He shook it off, pulled his cuffs down, and went back to his office.

The rest of the morning followed the same rhythm it had for three years. At ten fifteen Ethan walked in with a steaming mug of black tea, two sugars, no milk. He set it on the coaster by Adrian’s right hand without asking.

When Adrian needed silence to review four acquisition contracts, Ethan sat at the small desk by the window and worked without a sound. When the London legal call came in, Ethan was already on the extension, taking clear notes on every key point.

Adrian watched him across the desk. He realized again how many small problems never reached him because Ethan handled them first.

The calendar stayed perfect. Folders appeared five minutes before every meeting. Low-priority emails vanished into folders without Adrian ever seeing them.

He knew Ethan’s coffee order by heart.

Ethan knew exactly when Adrian wanted quiet and when he needed a short talk to clear his head. Having Ethan nearby was no longer just useful.

It had become the basic frame of how his whole day worked. Adrian could not remember the last time he had managed a full workday without that quiet presence half a step behind him.

At twelve-thirty the desk phone rang. His mother’s name showed on the screen. He put it on speaker.

“Mom.”

“Are you free for dinner Saturday? Seven o’clock at the house.”

“I already told Ethan when we landed. He’ll be there.”

Margaret laughed softly. “Good. I want him there. Bring him even if he says he has work.”

“He does have work. We’re finishing the mid-year review.”

“Then bring the paperwork with him. I don’t care about the files. Just make sure Ethan is at my table by seven.”

Adrian leaned back. “Why the sudden push for this Saturday?”

“Because I said so. And because I have something I want both of you to see.”

He stopped turning his pen. “What is it?”

“You’ll see when you get here. Don’t be late. And don’t let your father corner him in the study before dinner.”

She hung up before he could ask more.

Adrian set the pen down and looked through the glass wall. Ethan sat behind his monitors, chin resting on one hand, the other moving quickly across the keys.

The simple sight of him there eased a small knot of tension Adrian had not noticed until it was gone.

He stood and walked out to the reception area. Ethan looked up at once.

“Everything all right with the London contract?”

“That was my mother. Dinner is still Saturday. She was very clear you need to be at the table.”

Ethan gave a small smile. “I know. I already blocked the evening after we landed.”

“Good.” Adrian paused.

“She also said she has something she wants both of us to see.”

Ethan raised his eyebrows. “Any hints?”

“None. She hung up before I could ask.”

Ethan closed the window on his screen. “Then I guess we’ll find out together on Saturday.”

Adrian nodded and went back to his desk.

He tried to focus on a stack of real estate leases, but his mind kept drifting to the empty chair that morning and the brief warm touch of Ethan’s fingers on his neck.

He told himself it was only habit. Ethan had been his closest friend since childhood, his shadow through school and university, and his secretary for three years.

Of course the day ran smoother when Ethan was in the room. That was simply how they worked.

Yet when Ethan came back an hour later with the final board summary, Adrian found himself watching every small movement as Ethan set the files down and adjusted a document frame. The room felt steady again, simply because Ethan was in it.

Adrian picked up his pen and opened the new file. He looked up as Ethan reached the door.

“Ethan.”

Ethan stopped, hand on the handle. “Yes?”

“Make sure you take your full lunch break today. You didn’t finish that sandwich at the lounge.”

Ethan looked at him for two seconds. Something soft and hard to read passed through his eyes before his usual calm expression returned.

“I already ate half an hour ago while you were on the London call. I’m fine, Adrian.”

He opened the door and stepped out.

The heavy wood closed between them. Adrian stared at the shut door, pen still against the white page, wondering why the simple answer felt like something closing that he could not quite name.