CHAPTER FOUR Dangerous Attraction
240 Words
The following weeks blurred together.
Meetings.
Site visits.
Late-night planning sessions.
Coffee.
Arguments.
Laughter.
Somewhere along the way, Adrian stopped feeling like a client.
And started feeling like something much more dangerous.
A man she thought about constantly.
One evening they worked late at the office.
Everyone else had gone home.
Only the city lights remained visible beyond the glass walls.
Isabella stretched her arms.
"I'm exhausted."
Adrian removed his glasses.
The sight unexpectedly made him look younger.
Less intimidating.
More human.
"You work too hard."
She laughed.
"Coming from you?"
"Fair point."
Silence settled between them.
Comfortable silence.
The kind that shouldn't have existed.
Adrian watched her.
Carefully.
As if trying to solve a puzzle.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"I'm observing."
"That's somehow worse."
His smile returned.
Then his expression became serious.
"Victoria and I ended things."
The announcement hit her unexpectedly.
"Oh."
"It wasn't working."
She nodded.
Trying very hard not to appear relieved.
Adrian noticed.
Of course he noticed.
His eyes darkened slightly.
"You're happy about that."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Warmer.
His gaze dropped briefly to her lips.
Isabella's breath caught.
Neither moved.
Neither looked away.
The tension stretched painfully.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then Adrian stepped back.
The moment shattered.
Reality returned.
But the damage had already been done.
Because now they both knew.
The attraction wasn't one-sided.
And pretending otherwise was becoming impossible.
- Writer
