Chapter 5
“He should. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Friends.”
“Yes, Dominic. Some people have those.”
His expression didn’t change.
“Are you dating him?”
“Why?”
“I’m curious.”
“That sounds suspiciously like jealousy.”
“I’m not jealous.”
Claire smiled.
“Of course not.”
Dominic looked irritated.
Which only made the whole thing better.
Until Friday.
Ethan appeared at her desk just before five.
“Claire.”
She looked up.
“Yeah?”
“Dinner with me tonight. Seven o’clock.”
Dominic had been passing through the department.
He stopped.
Claire glanced toward him.
For one hopeful second, Dominic thought she might decline.
Then she looked back at Ethan.
“Okay.”
Ethan grinned.
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up.”
He walked away.
Dominic remained motionless.
Claire returned to her screen.
Finally, she glanced up.
“Something wrong?”
“No.”
“You look annoyed.”
“I’m considering an operational inefficiency.”
Her mouth twitched.
“Does this inefficiency have a name?”
“No.”
“Is his name Ethan?”
Dominic gave her a look.
Claire laughed.
He should have walked away.
Instead, he asked the question he had been avoiding.
“Why did you say yes?”
“Because he asked me out.”
“I’ve asked you out.”
“No. You’ve attempted to purchase an evening.”
“That’s a deliberately insulting distinction.”
“It’s an important one.”
He exhaled slowly.
Then he said something that surprised her.
“I could make his life very difficult.”
Claire’s smile vanished.
Dominic saw the change immediately.
He looked toward the elevators.
“I won’t.”
She said nothing.
“I know that wouldn’t make you choose me.”
“No,” Claire answered quietly. “It would make sure I never did.”
The words struck harder than an accusation.
Dominic nodded.
“Understood.”
And for once, he left without trying to win the conversation.
That evening, alone in his office, he stared at a folder containing proposed acquisitions and remembered Claire’s expression.
Fear.
Not of what he had done.
Of what he could do.
He had spent his entire life building power so nobody could hurt him.
Now he was discovering that the same power could hurt someone simply by being present.
Claire’s Friday dinner with Ethan was pleasant.
Annoyingly pleasant.
They went to a neighborhood Italian restaurant with checkered tablecloths, crowded booths, and breadsticks that arrived before they’d even ordered.
Ethan made her laugh.
He listened when she spoke.
He never once looked at his phone.
Halfway through dinner, he leaned back and smiled.
“You’re thinking about him.”
Claire nearly dropped her fork.
“What?”
“The terrifyingly handsome guy who looks like he owns the weather.”