Chapter Three #2
Aurelia paused her sketching, tilting her head to evaluate her work. And then, she smiled. It was a soft, private expression of pure satisfaction. It reached her dark eyes, making them crinkle at the corners. She brought her coffee cup to her lips at peace with the world.
Cameron’s heart seized. A desperate, overwhelming wave of devotion crashed over him. He felt the phantom weight of her blood on his hands, followed instantly by the blinding miracle of her sitting right in front of him, whole and unhurt.
I will burn empires to the ground to keep that smile on your face, he vowed, the thought echoing in his mind with the solemnity of a prayer.
Before his rational brain could intervene, before he could recall Julian's strict warnings about restraint, Cameron’s feet were moving. He raised a hand, silencing the vice president mid-sentence. He signaled for his security detail to hold back.
He crossed the marble floor, his presence sending a ripple of hushed murmurs through the surrounding tables as employees recognized the reclusive billionaire CEO walking among them.
He stopped at the edge of her table.
Aurelia didn't notice him at first. She was shading the edge of a structural pillar in her drawing.
"The perspective on the arches is remarkable," Cameron said. His voice was lower than he intended, thick with an emotion he was fighting violently to suppress.
Aurelia gasped, her pencil jerking across the paper.
She looked up, her eyes widening as she took in the towering figure in the immaculately tailored three-piece suit.
Recognition dawned instantly—nobody working in the building could fail to recognize the face that graced the cover of every financial magazine on the globe.
"Mr. Langsford," Aurelia stammered, scrambling to sit up straighter, her cheeks flushing with a mixture of shock and sheer panic. She reached out, instinctively trying to cover her sketchbook with her hands. "I... I'm sorry, I was just on my designated break. I wasn't slacking off."
"Please," Cameron said quickly, raising a hand in a placating gesture. The fear in her voice tore at his conscience. "Don't cover it. I wasn't reprimanding you. I... I didn't mean to startle you."
Aurelia blinked, bewildered. The CEO of the conglomerate didn't wander the cafeteria, and he certainly didn't apologize to junior design staff. "Oh. Thank you, sir."
Cameron stood there, his brilliant, calculating mind suddenly devoid of all strategy. He just wanted to look at her. He wanted to memorize the way the light caught the dark strands of her hair. He wanted to reach across the table and trace the line of her jaw.
"May I?" Cameron asked, gesturing to the empty chair across from her.
Aurelia looked around the cafeteria, noticing the dozens of eyes pinned on their table. Her confusion deepened into a surreal sense of vertigo. "You want to sit? Here?"
"If you don't mind." Without waiting for a firm rejection, Cameron lowered himself into the chair. He felt too large for the small space, his broad shoulders crowding the booth. He looked at the drawing. "Are you with the architectural division?"
"Interior design, actually," Aurelia answered cautiously, her hands folding neatly in her lap. She was polite, professional, but baffled. "Sixteenth floor. We handle the commercial aesthetics for the retail properties."
"You're very talented," Cameron murmured, his gaze lifting from the paper to lock onto her dark eyes. "You have a gift for capturing light."
Aurelia’s breath hitched slightly. The intensity in the man’s gray eyes was staggering. It wasn't predatory, nor was it the cold evaluation of a boss assessing an employee. It was something sorrowful, and extremely intimate. It made her skin prickle.
"Thank you, sir," she managed to say. "I just... I like to practice when I can."
"Cameron."
Aurelia frowned. "Excuse me?"
"You don't have to call me sir," he said, leaning forward slightly, the desperate need to bridge the gap between them overriding his restraint. "Call me Cameron."
Before Aurelia could process the sheer absurdity of the request, a smooth, cultured voice broke the tension.
"There you are. I thought we were reviewing the quarterly compliance briefs."
Julian Langsford stepped up to the table, his sharp eyes instantly assessing the situation. He saw the panic radiating from Aurelia, and he saw the naked, raw desperation in his older brother's posture. Cameron had gone rogue. He couldn't stay away.
Julian smoothly slid into the narrative, acting as the stabilizing force. He offered Aurelia a warm, remarkably gentle smile—an expression that would have shocked the senior partners at his law firm.
"Forgive the intrusion," Julian said, his tone conversational and light. "My brother has a terrible habit of wandering off when he’s avoiding board meetings. I’m Julian."
Aurelia stared at the extended hand of the Chief Financial Officer. She slowly reached out, her fingers brushing his. "Aurelia. Aurelia Sinclair."
Julian felt a strange, phantom ache in his chest at the sound of her name. This was the woman who had sheltered his sister. The woman who had died on that cold highway. He offered her hand a respectful squeeze before releasing it.