Page 48 of Power

Axel: Don’t listen to him. He’s been infected with the emotional virus. It’s terminal.

Great. Ryker was right about protecting this company, and I knew what I had to do. The problem was, Scarlett wouldn’t like it one bit. Worse, no matter how much a CEO like me shouldn’t worry about it, I didn’t want to hurt her.

Maybe she wouldn’t be hurt though? Scarlett was a fierce, smart woman. Maybe she’d understand …

24

SCARLETT

Operation Avoid Jace Lockwood was in full swing.

It started the moment I slunk back into thathey, everyone, meet your new overlordmeeting, where I kept my eyes glued to the floor, which, as it turned out, was harder than I thought. In fact, I made the mistake of looking up once. You know, how you do when you drive past a car crash? And BAM. His eyes snapped on to mine with a sultry, dark look. Was that anger in his gaze? Shock? Delight? Didn’t matter.

Nope. Not at all.

In Jace’s defense, he worked the room like the corporate god he apparently was. All easy confidence and measured authority, his voice a perfect blend ofI’m definitely in chargeandbut I’m not going to be a dick about it. The same voice that had whispered filthy promises against my skin just hours ago?—

Focus, Scarlett.

The second that meeting ended, I channeled my inner speed walker (was that a thing?) past the water cooler, down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time (because elevators were death traps of potential Jace encounters). I didn’t stop until I reached my tiny second-floor office—aka my fortress of solitude—where Icollapsed into my chair and started mutilating my perfectly manicured nails.

And let me be crystal clear about Operation Avoid Jace Lockwood: I wasn’t running away from him. I wasn’t hiding. I was strategically avoiding, thank you very much. There was a difference. Running away was what you do when you’re scared. Avoiding is what you do when your carefully constructed plan to handle a sexual harassment complaint gets detonated by the nuclear bomb of discovering your weekend fling is now your boss’s boss’s boss’s boss.

A girl needed a minute to process that kind of plot twist.

And, no, I wasn’t spiraling about any potential relationship with Jace. That ship had sailed, crashed, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean. A fact I could properly mourn later tonight with a bottle of wine. This was about my career. My future. My ability to walk into this building without wondering if today was the day everything imploded.

Because here was the thing about having your new CEO’s tongue inside you: It really complicated workplace dynamics. Especially when said workplace had a strict no-fraternization policy. Sure, technically, we hadn’t violated it. Unlessdidn’t know you were my future boss when we were doing unspeakable things to each othercounted. God, HR probably had a whole chapter about that somewhere.

But the sex wasn’t even the worst part. No, the worst part was those quiet moments when I’d let my guard down. When I’d told him things. Real things. About loving animals because they’d never hurt you. About how I didn’t do relationships. And, oh yeah, that tiny detail about being sexually harassed by someone at his company.

My stomach clenched. It was ridiculous to worry he’d side with Grabby Hands over me. I mean, what was I to Jace Lockwood? A weekend distraction. A complication in his bazillion-dollar merger. A girl who’d?—

No. Stop.This isn’t about feelings. This is about my career. Period. End of story.

I just needed to focus on my HR meeting. One task. Alert them about the slimeball in their ranks. I could do that. I had to do that.

Besides, Operation Avoid Jace Lockwood had one massive advantage: He was executing a major corporate acquisition. Day one. His schedule would be packed tighter than a Manhattan subway at rush hour. The fact he’d spent the weekend with me instead of prepping for today probably just proved how routine these takeovers were for him. How many companies had he consumed? How many lives had he casually reorganized over breakfast meetings?

But none of that mattered. The point was, he’d be too busy for random hallway encounters in this massive building. Thank God. Because with my world tilting on its axis, the absolute last thing I could handle was?—

“Scarlett?” A redheaded woman materialized in my doorway like some harbinger of doom.

I stood, plastering on my bestI’m totally not having an existential crisissmile and extended my hand. She ignored it.

All righty then. Maybe these new company people aren’t the friendly type.

“Mr. Lockwood would like to see you in his office.” Her tone could have frozen Antarctica over.

And just like that, Operation Avoid Jace Lockwood went down in flames.

25

SCARLETT

“He wants to see you in his office?” Dakota’s eyes rounded.

“In fifteen minutes.” I eyed the clock like it was a ticking bomb.