Mike I sat in my office with the blinds half-closed, the morning sun slicing across the dark desk. My hands itched to type out emails, to approve invoices, to call Eloise just to hear her voice steady me. But instead, they drummed an anxious, frustrated rhythm against the leather armrest. She hadn’t replied to my last text. She hadn’t replied to any of them since last night’s dinner. Dinner with Damon Grey. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to breathe evenly. Damon had always had that effect on people, men or women, it didn’t matter. His presence alone could shift the temperature in a room. Make powerful CEOs sweat under their ties. Make billionaires lean forward to listen. Make someone like Eloise…look at him like he was offering salvation itself. I replayed every second of that d

