Ronan

I was composing an email to one of our biggest corporate clients when Zeke breezed into my office without knocking. He grabbed the chair opposite my desk and dropped into it, not waiting for an invitation. I bit the inside of my lip so he wouldn’t see me smile. Encouragement was the last thing he needed.

“So,” he said, interrupting the flow of my fingers over the keyboard. “Your Willow isn’t what I expected.”

I held up a finger to quiet him while I tried to finish my sentence. Unfortunately, his statement had intrigued me, and I couldn’t remember what I’d been about to type. I managed to piece something together—I could fix it later—and gave him my full attention.

“How do you mean?”

He smirked, pleased to have me hooked. “She’s gutsy and interesting.”

I shoved my keyboard away since I clearly wasn’t going to get anything done until Zeke was gone. “Why would that be a surprise? She did break into my office, you know.”

“In all the photos of her on the internet, she looks standoffish.” He slid off one of his rings and turned it over between his fingers. “Her communications are carefully worded. I figured she thought she was above everyone else, but after meeting her, I’m not so sure.”

“You’re admitting you might have been wrong about someone?” I cocked my head. “Can I get that in a written statement, signed and dated?”

He rolled his eyes. “Not going to happen, King.”

“Didn’t think so.” I wasn’t sure why he’d felt the need to interrupt me for this character assessment though. “Where are you going with this?”

He angled his chin toward me, his smile widening. “Oh, nowhere in particular. Just that I don’t trust her and I think it would be best to keep a close eye on her. If that happens to mean asking her out, then I’m prepared to take one for the team. Especially since you’ve already said you’re not interested.”

Frustration snapped like a rubber band inside me at the thought of Zeke crossing any kind of line with Willow. I would have liked to think she wouldn’t fall for his particular brand of charm, but because of his mysterious past and bad-boy facade, women tended to lose their minds over him.

“Stay away from her,” I ordered. “We’re not playing with her feelings. That option is off the table. Got it?”

Zeke laughed. “Got it, boss man.”

My eyes narrowed. He was being facetious. Technically, he was my partner, not my employee. We’d agreed at the outset that since I was the one bringing the money and the client connections, I’d be the CEO.

“Have you stopped to think about why you’re so determined for her not to get caught in the crossfire?” Zeke asked.

“Because it would be wrong,” I replied, ignoring the way my chest burned at the thought of Zeke touching her. Yes, that would be very wrong indeed.