‘This is my new EA, Marlowe,’ Brendan tells him. ‘Marlowe, meet my good friend Ethan Kingsley.’

‘Marlowe.’ He turns those eyes on me as he takes my hand. ‘It’s a pleasure.’ I don’t miss the lightning speed with which his gaze darts down my body and back up. I hope he can’t tell that I was halfway to orgasm about three minutes ago.

‘How do you do?’ I ask, but he doesn’t grace it with a response. Instead, he drops my hand and gestures to us to go through to the room beside him.

The space is clearly a meeting room, but it has all the Insta-worthy opulence of the suites on Kingsley’s feed. The walls in here are also linen-lined, but in a dark steel grey that makes it feel atmospheric, despite the brightness of the day outside. There’s a big conference table on one side, a glossy brass bar cart that looks remarkably well stocked, and two white sofas facing each other over a glass coffee table. Several small console tables line the walls, each bearing a vase of beautiful pink-and-white orchids. It isn’t necessarily any fancier than Brendan’s meeting rooms, but it feels far less corporate.

We take a seat, Brendan and I on one sofa and Ethan sitting opposite us. He opens a big bottle of sparkling water and pours us all a glass.

‘So,’ Brendan says, sitting back and crossing one ankle over his opposite knee, ‘how are you holding up since Talia walked out?’

I stiffen. I suddenly realise I know exactly who this guy is, and I have no idea how I should react. He’s the guy Talia was talking about at the Seraph drinks last weekend. The one she said she’d quit on because he was so mean to her. The one Soph is considering as her next boss.

Holy crap.

I mean, he’s hot. Seriously hot. And he doesn’t look like he has a temper. To be honest, he looks cold as steel. But I can imagine that if he pulled that stick out of his arse and let all the emotions he doesn’t show out, it could get pretty intense. He’s intense enough right now.

But I’m not supposed to know any of this. And surely these guys have NDAs? They can’t discuss their Seraph employee.

Can they?

In the split second that it takes for me to panic, Ethan produces an expression somewhere between impassive and unimpressed. ‘Not ideal. I’ve got someone from the admin pool filling in, but she’s not…’ He trails off.

‘Yeah,’ Brendan says. ‘That’s rough.’ He turns to me. ‘Ethan had a Seraph EA working for him. Talia. Do you know her?’

My eyes dart in a panic to Ethan, then to Brendan. ‘Yes.’ I clear my throat. ‘I, um, met her at drinks last week.’