The next morning, Kai couldn't focus. Not on the figures on his screen. Not on the voice of his assistant. Not even on the thousand-dollar espresso he hadn't touched. All he could see were her eyes.
Dark. Daring. Unapologetic.
Who the hell was she?
She hadn't given him a name. She hadn't needed to. Something in his chest had recognized her before his brain could form the question. Like a memory trapped in his skin, pressing against his bones but he didn't know her. Couldn't place her and yet, all night long, her voice echoed in his head.
Wouldn't you like to know…
"Mr. Lennox?" his assistant, Avery, said gently. "Do you want to approve the Hartley floral design or let Brielle's team choose?"
Kai blinked. "Let her choose."
Avery hesitated. "Are you sure? They want orchids dipped in glitter. Gold glitter."
He winced. "Let her choose," he repeated flatly.
Avery sighed and walked out. As the door closed, Kai leaned back and pressed two fingers to his temple. This was supposed to be easy. Clean. Strategic. Marry Brielle Hartley, solidify the merger, put the past to rest.
But something inside him wasn't resting. It was waking and last night's encounter had shaken it loose.
Aria stood across the street from the Lennox Corp building, dark sunglasses hiding her expression, lips painted like sin.
She'd worn him well, she thought.
It was reckless to approach him that directly, this early in the plan. But it was worth it. The look in his eyes, confusion, curiosity, heat had told her everything.
He didn't remember her name. But his body did.
And now? He'd come looking and the rest of this would be easier.
She turned, walking down the street and into the waiting car where her best friend, Leila, sat sipping iced coffee with no shame.
"Tell me you didn't," Leila said, not looking up.
"I didn't."
A beat.
"…Much."
Leila smirked. "You kissed him, didn't you?"
"No. I let him think about it." Aria smiled lazily. "That's worse."
Leila blew out a breath. "You're playing a dangerous game. He's not the same man you loved."
Aria's smile faded. "Exactly."
Later that afternoon, Aria stepped into the marble lobby of Lennox Corp. Her heels echoed like a countdown. She looked every bit the part sleek black pencil skirt, silk blouse unbuttoned just enough to tempt, hair swept into a sharp twist. A calculated reinvention of the girl who once wore daisies in her hair and kissed Kai under library stairwells. She walked straight to the front desk, sliding over her forged résumé and crisp application.
"I have a meeting with the Director of Communications. I believe he's expecting me."
He wasn't. But he would be.
Upstairs, Kai scrolled through security footage, shamefully trying to catch even a flicker of the woman from the party.
He wasn't obsessed.
Just… curious and frustrated because for the life of him, he couldn't place her. And that did something to him, something sharp and frantic.
And then Avery knocked.
"There's a woman in the lobby. Claims she's here for a junior comms position. Says your office requested her directly."
Kai frowned. "Name?"
"Aria St. James."
His chest tightened.
St. James. Not familiar. But Aria? The name hit like a match dragged across old paper. He didn't know why but he stood immediately.
"Send her in."
When she walked into his office, he didn't speak.
Didn't breathe just stared.
Her blouse was white this time, but her mouth was still blood red. Her presence sucked the air from the room.
"You again," he said slowly.
Aria smiled coolly. "You remember me."
"Hard to forget someone who walks away mid-conversation at their engagement party."
She sat. Crossed her legs. "You didn't seem like the type to enjoy small talk."
He leaned forward. "You weren't on the guest list."
"I was someone's plus one," she lied easily. "You looked like you needed saving."
Kai studied her. "Is this some kind of joke?"
She tilted her head. "What makes you think I'm joking?"
"I don't know you."
She shrugged. "Maybe that's the problem."
He rose slowly, walked to the window. "What do you want?"
She stood too. Moved behind him. Close enough that he could smell her perfume the same kind Ariella wore.
He didn't know her but his skin tingled like it remembered things he didn't.
Aria leaned in, lips almost grazing his ear.
"I want a job."
He turned sharply. "Why here?"
Her smile was slow. "Because I like watching powerful men squirm."
Kai stared at her, heartbeat thudding. "You're playing a dangerous game."
She stepped back, lips curving.
"Exactly."
He gave her the job.
He didn't know why.
Didn't know what made his gut twist or his pulse spike when she walked into a room but deep down, something in him screamed:
You already know her.
You loved her once.
And you lost her.