Chapter 6 Elizabeth
ELIZABETH
It can’t be …
It isn’t just any company in the folder. It’s Jones Construction.
My father’s company. My brother’s job. The only steady income keeping my family afloat.
And now, right here in Jon’s potential deals, it looks like Clark M & A is circling them for acquisition.
My stomach knots. If this deal goes through, everything my father’s worked for could vanish overnight. Their hours. Their security. The legacy my family clings to.
I stare at the name until the letters swim. My cursor blinks on the contract edits Jon asked me to finish, but my hands hover uselessly over the keyboard.
How the hell am I supposed to tell my dad I’m helping the man who might gut his company? How am I supposed to keep Jon’s trust when I’m already hiding this from him?
The computer dings. Jon’s email lands in my inbox, the same documents attached. My chest squeezes. Every instinct screams to flag the page, to demand an explanation. But instead, I minimize the window, heart pounding.
I can’t tell him. And I can’t tell my family either. If they knew, they’d see me as a traitor. If Jon knew, he might see me as a liability. Either way, I lose.
The only move is to stay close. Smile. Pretend. Buy myself time to figure out what’s really happening with Jones Construction before it’s too late.
“Lizzy.”
The sound of my name snaps me upright. Jon stands in the doorway, his shoulders filling the frame, his eyes locked on me. “How are those contracts coming along?”
Caught, I fumble for my voice. “Oh, um… just finished. I’ll email them to you.” My smile feels painted on, brittle.
“Good. Come join me while I look them over.” Not a suggestion.
I rise, legs heavy, and follow him back into his office, every nerve screaming. It’s almost laughable. Finally I have the job, the chance, the man’s attention… and it all sits on a fault line.
One wrong step, and everything cracks wide open.
He pulls the chair beside him and gestures for me to sit. Quietly, I watch as he reads through the few test contracts, and the tension in the room is thick. His jaw ticks, his throat works, his hand shifts restlessly against the desk. He’s trying to look composed, but his body keeps betraying him.
I tell myself to mirror that control. Keep quiet. Don’t let my face give me away. If I bury myself in the papers, maybe he won’t see the storm inside me.
“These look solid,” he finally says, laying the contracts flat. “I feel comfortable moving forward with the new clients if you are.”
“Of course,” I reply, short and clipped, desperate for the day to be over before my nerves give me away completely.
The hours crawl. Paper after paper, his deep voice filling the room while I scribble notes.
My pen scratches the page, but my head is somewhere else entirely, counting the seconds until we hit Jones Construction, dreading the moment, praying he won’t notice my silence.
What unnerves me more is his silence, too. No teasing. No sly comments. Just business.
Is he regretting last night’s kiss? The office empties around us until only the hum of the heating vents remains. Alone again, just like before. My stomach coils.
Then he clears his throat, and my head snaps up. “Alright, I can’t do this anymore,” he says, voice raw. “Did that kiss ruin the line between us? Because it’s been in my head all day, Lizzy. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen.”
My laugh slips out before I can stop it, nervous and a little relieved. “No. Not at all. Honestly, it’s family stuff, not you. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“A little,” he murmurs.
And then he moves. His hands clamp my hips, strong, decisive, and the contact shocks me into stillness before it melts me from the inside out. My breath stumbles. The room tilts.
In one pull, I’m in his lap, straddling him, my skirt riding high enough to bare the thin strip of lace I’d chosen this morning. His gaze drops, darkens, and I hear the sharp intake of his breath.
“Christ,” he mutters, voice thick as his thumb strokes the edge of the fabric at my hip. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me?”
Heat floods me, my pulse hammering in my throat. Whatever barrier I thought I could keep between us? Shattered the second his mouth hovers near mine, his breath hot.
His mouth crashes onto mine in a hard, claiming kiss that makes me forget my own name.
His tongue forces past my lips, rough and deep, and I moan into him as his hand slides higher, cupping my breast through the blouse.
His thumb rolls over my nipple until it stiffens against the thin fabric, and I arch into his touch, shameless.
The other hand grips my ass, squeezing until I’m gasping, grinding helplessly against the thick ridge straining against his trousers.
The desk chair creaks under the rhythm of my hips pressing down on him, friction sparking between my soaked panties and his cock.
This is it—heat spiraling, pulse pounding—I’m seconds away from giving him everything.
And then—
A sharp metallic bang echoes through the office.
I tear myself off his lap, breath ragged, yanking my skirt down like I’ve just been caught naked under a spotlight. My heart slams so hard it hurts.
Jon doesn’t flinch. He rises slowly, adjusting his belt and smoothing his shirt with an ease that screams control. “Stay,” he orders, voice low, before striding out into the hall.
I stand frozen, chest heaving, thoughts racing. What the hell am I doing? One kiss and I nearly burned my career to ash. If anyone saw—if anyone even suspected—it would look like I’m just another assistant sleeping her way into a title.
The seconds stretch like hours until he returns.
“Coast is clear,” Jon says, stepping back inside and shutting the door behind him. His mouth quirks with wicked amusement. “Just the automatic lock on the front doors.”
Relief crashes through me, and I press a hand to my chest. “God. That was too close.”
He crosses the space in two strides, hooks his arm around my shoulders, and drags me back into his heat. His lips brush mine again, teasing this time, demanding another surrender.
But I turn my face at the last second, breaking the spell. His brow arches sharply in curiosity. “Something wrong, Lizzy?”
No. Everything is wrong. Because if it isn’t just the locks next time, if someone actually catches us… I’ll look like exactly what they’ll all whisper: the young girl clawing her way up on her back.
“Yes and no,” I finally say, eyes dropping to the desk instead of him. “I think… we should keep things professional. There’s too much on our plates—clients, meetings, deadlines. This… whatever this is… it’s a distraction.”
When I look back up, his face is unreadable—torn for a heartbeat, then shuttered. The smile he gives me feels too smooth, too quick, like a mask he’s had practice wearing.
“I agree,” he says, far too easily.
The words stab hard and for one second I want to take them back. It was my idea, but his ready agreement feels like rejection all the same. I force a smile, step past him, and pretend my chest isn’t aching. “It’s been a long day. I should head home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He doesn’t answer, just nods without looking at me, already gathering papers into neat stacks. I don’t wait for more. I flee before the silence swallows me whole.
Outside, the cold slaps me awake. I half run to my car, breath puffing in clouds, heart pounding with the memory of his mouth, his hands, the way I almost lost myself completely.
By the time I get home, I’m vibrating with it. I need Dani. I need to say it out loud before it eats me alive. “Dani?” I knock against her bedroom door, my voice a little desperate. “Are you up? I need you.”
The door swings open instantly, and I tumble inside, collapsing at the end of her bed. “Mega crisis,” I declare.
She slides back under the covers, hair wild, eyes curious. “Go on.”
“We got the new client list today.” My throat goes tight. “Jones Construction is on it.”
Her eyes widen. She doesn’t need me to explain—that’s my father, my brother, our whole family’s safety net. “Jon is planning to buy it. If that happens, their jobs… gone. The house… gone. I don’t know what the hell to do.”
“Wait.” She props herself up on an elbow, a smirk tugging despite the seriousness. “Jon? We’re on a first-name basis now? What exactly happened today?”
I scoff. “Not the point, Dani.”
“Fine, fine.” Her voice softens. “So what now? You can’t let your family get crushed, but you can’t lose this job either.”
“I know.” My voice cracks on it. “So I’m stuck lying to both sides until I figure out a way to fix it.”