Chapter 11: The Snap

He was dimly aware of David saying something. Of Martina returning from wherever she’d been. Of her soft intake of breath when she saw the roses.

“They’re beautiful,” she said quietly, touching one perfect petal with gentle fingers.

“He’s very thoughtful.”

Jordan watched her read the card. Watched her lips curve into a genuine smile. The kind of smile he’d been trying to earn for five years and never quite managed.

Something inside him snapped.

“Cancel my afternoon meetings,” he said abruptly.

David blinked. “All of them? Jordan, you have the Singapore call—”

“Reschedule it. Something came up.”

“What came up?”

“Something important.”

Jordan’s eyes never left Martina’s face. She was looking at him now. Surprised. Wary. Confused.

Good.

He wanted her confused. Wanted her off balance the way he’d been off balance since Saturday night.

“Ms. Hayes,” he said formally.

“I need you to accompany me to a meeting. Bring your tablet.”

“Where?” she asked carefully.

“You’ll see. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

“Mr. Blackwell, I have work to do—”

“Your correspondence can wait.”

His voice dropped into command mode.

“Ten minutes, Ms. Hayes. This isn’t a request.”

He walked into his office before she could argue. Before he could see the roses again. Before he could do something catastrophic like tell her that Marcus Ashford could send flowers every day for the rest of her life, and it wouldn’t matter.

Because Jordan knew something Marcus didn’t.

He knew how she took her tea.

He knew the exact angle her lips curved when she was trying not to laugh at one of his terrible jokes.

He knew the way she bit her bottom lip when she was concentrating. The way she hummed softly when she thought no one was listening. The way her whole face lit up when she solved a problem that had been driving him crazy for weeks.

He knew her.

Or at least, he was going to start trying to know her.

And Jordan Blackwell had never failed at anything he truly committed to.

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