Page 20 of Before Dawn

So much for Friday night being a mistake.

I barely had time to process before Mikkel’s voice pulled me back.

“Three times in one month…” His smirk was lethal, cocky and lazy in a way that made my pulse stumble. He leaned in just slightly, eyes locked on mine like he could hear every single thought in my head. “Are you following me, Red?”

I recovered fast, arching a brow. “I should be asking if you’re the one following me.”

His laugh—deep, rich, intoxicating—wrapped around me like warm silk. My body betrayed me, leaning closer without permission, as if gravity itself had shifted in his direction.

“If only, Red.” His voice dropped just a fraction, something unreadable flickering in his gaze. “If only.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, a hand clamped around my arm.

Azzaria.

“Let’s go. Now.”

Her voice was tight, urgent. Her fingers dug in, her eyes flickering toward her boss like he was a hunter and she, his prey.

I didn’t want to leave. Not with the warmth of Mikkel’s laugh still brushing against my skin. Not with his gaze still holding mine like I was the only person in this room.

But I had to.

For the third time, I left without a proper goodbye, rushing with Azzaria through the evening crowd, heart pounding, Mikkel’s scent and voice lingering long after we disappeared into the first taxi we could find.

Chapter Five

Mikkel

“If one day the moon calls you by your name don’t be surprised, because every night I tell her about you.”

~ Shahrazad al-Khalij

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

One minute, I was in my office, fine-tuning a contract. Dillon and Arnoldo sat before me, bickering as usual, their voices blending into an unintelligible hum. The next thing I knew, Dillon and I were speeding through the city, tailing a cab his intern was in.

I should have questioned it. I should have told Dillon he was being fucking ridiculous. But I didn’t.

Because the second I saw her, I forgot about everythingelse.

Red.

That fiery copper-platinum hair. The kind that made her impossible to miss, impossible to forget. My chest tightened, my steps quickening as if drawn by some invisible force. And then I heard it—her voice. Melodic. Hypnotic. It twisted something inside me, something I didn’t have time to figure out.

And just like that, she was gone. Again.

The moment shattered too fast, slipping through my fingers like every other time we crossed paths. It was starting to feel like a cruel fucking joke.

Dillon kept talking beside me, his tone laced with frustration and uncertainty. He was fixated on his intern, trying to work through whatever the hell he was feeling. “Show her you’re human,” I muttered, barely paying attention. “Drop the grumpy asshole act and make her feel safe.”

His eyes tracked the cab like a man watching something slip away, and I almost laughed. Look at us. Two men standing in the middle of the street, watching women disappear into the evening, wondering what the hell just happened.

But I wasn’t focused on Dillon.

I was thinking about her—the way her cheeks flushed when I called her gorgeous. The way she smiled, wrecking me in the process.

I barely made it through the rest of my day, and week to an extent. Board meetings dragged on, filled with the same repetitive bullshit: projections, strategies, arguments over numbers. I powered through, but my mind wasn’t in it. Not completely.

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