Page 34 of Abyss

I roll over, groaning as I drag myself onto my elbows. Taking a sip of the water she offers me, along with the meds, I fall back on the pillow, but not before grasping her hand as she’s pulling away.

She lets me tangle our fingers and I stare at her throughhooded eyes. She’s fucking ravishing. “You’re too good for him, you know.”

God, if I was sober, I’d have slapped myself for even speaking—and I know I’ll want to go back in time tomorrow and slap myself when I remember this entire night.

She drags her teeth over her bottom lip, a smile pulling at the corners. “Corbin or you?”

My gaze crawls down the length of her body, still inside my suit jacket, but I don’t dare answer her question. “Do you like him?”

Her voice is as soft as the light near my bed. “Would it bother you if I did?”

Nope, not answering that, either. “What does your name mean?”

Likely because I’m giving her whiplash, she tries to untangle our fingers, but I tug her closer so her face hangs inches above mine again, her free hand landing on my chest.

Our eyes dance, our breaths intermingling inside the blaring silence.

“Kav.”

Her breath stutters, amber eyes flecked with gold and brown. They’re so fucking beautiful, especially in contrast against her brown skin. “A poem,” she whispers.

My hand cups the side of her face. “It’s perfect,” I mumble, lids dropping on their own accord. Words slipping on their own accord, too. “You’re perfect.”

Chapter Eleven

KAVI

I’m staring at my boss, not that he knows it. And I’ve been doing so, off and on, for the better part of an hour.

While I woke up with deep, dark circles around my eyes—to which I applied a chilled bottle of vodka from the mini fridge, hoping to de-puff my skin—he looks like he was in the habit of passing out drunk and waking up glowing like a movie star.

Four hours later, with all contractual documents signed and celebrated with our clients, not a single brown hair has shifted out of place from the top of his head. Nor does he display the slightest evidence of a rough night. In fact, in his signature suit and tie, his salt-and-pepper scruff perfectly trimmed, his eyes seem to look sharper, more intense, like storm clouds gathering in the horizon.

Thank God, Corbin let bygones be bygones with what Hudson said to him last night when he saw him getting handsy. Thankfully, I was able to clear the air with him before Hudson and I left, letting him know I wasn’t interested in anysort of relationship or even casual dating. He seemed to understand, telling me to inform him if I change my mind.

I won’t be.

The longer I stare, the more my boss’s crescent-shaped lips pull downward, the creases around his mouth deepening.

“If you have something to say, just say it, Ms. Jain.”

Ah, so we’re back to Ms. Jain.

Does he even remember anything from last night?

The way he scowled at Corbin all night, as if imagining his death in vivid detail. The way he pulled me into him in the elevator, his body’s reaction too difficult to hide. The way his breath floated over my skin, his lids succumbing to the haze in his head as he said those last words.

“You’re perfect.”

Does he remember any of it, or would he have acted the same with anyone in my position?

His low voice bounces around the small conference room we’ve borrowed inside the Rose City Skyport’s business building, and I pull my gaze back to my laptop, shaking my head. “No, I have nothing notable to say, Mr. Case.”

He takes in a long, disapproving breath, as if my answer has exasperated him before pinning me with one of his glares. “Then what’s the problem?”

I tilt my head, lowering the screen of my laptop so I’m not hiding behind it, even though I want to. “I don’t have a problem. Do you?”

“No.”

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